Transformation: The Clandestine Saga Book 1 (7 page)

              “Woe, wait, hold on a second, time out,” Cadence was saying, making a t-shape with her hands ad if she were the referee in a basketball game.  “Did you say I activated something in my genes last night? What? No, I was just angry. I just did what any normal human being would do when they were in a similar situation.”

              Again glances were exchanged between the two Guardians. “No,” Eliza said as they both shook their heads. “You activated your Hunter gene last night. That’s the only way you could have ran up to 30 miles per hour and torn the head off of a Vampire.”

              “What? No!  I wasn’t running that fast!”

              “Yes, yes you were,” Jamie agreed. “You just couldn’t tell how fast you were moving because you have limited experience in judging it. Trust me, you were burning up the path.”

              Cadence stopped to consider this for a moment. She did feel as if she was covering a lot of ground last night, but she had no idea she was moving that quickly. “Really?” she asked. “Was I really going that fast?”

              She could tell by the pause that there was some conferring going on that she was not yet privy to so she sat quietly and watched Eliza nod, even though she would never admit she was doing so.  “Let me pull up the footage,” she said.

              Once again Cadence was confused. “What are you going to pop out your eyeball and let me use it as a telescope or something? I mean seriously, how does that work?”

              Eliza began to giggle, which turned into a snort, which made her laugh even louder, and finally it seemed that she must have received a directive to get her act together because the laughter halted abruptly. “I can project it,” she said very seriously.  She walked over next to where Cadence was sitting on the couch and pressed a few buttons on what looked like a watch. Suddenly, a video appeared in the air in front of her, and though there was really nothing for it to project on to, Cadence could see it very clearly. It was she alright and she was running through the woods. 

              “But, I’m not going that fast!” she said, as the video didn’t seem to show too much exertion on her part.

              “Two things,” Jamie said from his seat across the room. “Look at the speedometer at the bottom of the screen and realize that Aaron is the one recording you so at this point, he is trailing you and he knows how fast he is running, which at this point is 32 miles per hour.  And you know how fast he can move.”

              “Now look at this footage,” Eliza insisted, fast forwarding a bit.  “This is when you enter the clearing.  He’s in front of you at that point and can see you approaching.”

              “I’m not sure I want to see that,” Cadence said, thinking of the scenes she saw upon entering the clearing.

              “He actually edited it for you,” Eliza said, looking at Jamie who made a face as if he were surprised.  Cadence wasn’t sure what that was all about, but she agreed to watch the footage as long as she wouldn’t have to see Drew or the Vampire she had decapitated.  Sure enough, she came flying through the trees, approaching cheetah speed, dodging tree limbs as if she could just tell where they were going to be.

              “Wow,” Cadence said, unable to believe she was seeing herself move that quickly and agilely. “So, why haven’t I ever been able to do this before? I mean, I should have been blowing up the track meets in high school, you know?”

              “Because you needed something to activate that gene within your DNA. And just typical adrenalin isn’t going to do it most likely, unless it’s layered on with event after event after event,” Jamie explained. “So, if you decided to undergo Transformation all by yourself, you could probably fully do it on your own within a few months, maybe a year. But, with the serum, you could do it literally overnight and then, you’d be practically at full power before you even complete your training.”

              “Now hold on there just one flippin’ minute,” Cadence said, looking from Jamie to her grandma and then back at Eliza.  “Just because I have this gene in my DNA, that doesn’t mean I have to use it, right? Isn’t that what you said, Grandma? I’m pretty sure I heard you say that.”

              “Yes, that is true,” Janette agreed. She was still on the fence as to whether or not she wanted Cadence to undergo the Transformation.  She knew the pros and cons for each and did not want Cadence to make a rash decision.

              Cadence could tell that Jamie was listening to Aaron as he was speaking, though she wasn’t sure whether the words he chose were his own or if he was just relaying them. “But Cadence, this really is a bit of a nonnegotiable for you.  I mean, first of all, clearly, you are a natural at this. You were meant to be a Hunter. You come from a direct line of Leaders. This is what you were destined to become. Also, consider the good you would be doing for the world by helping rid the planet of the types of scum that you eliminated last night.  It was simple for you because it runs so thickly through your blood.  Can you imagine what you would be able to do if you were fully Transformed?”  He could tell by her expression that he was not making much progress. He decided to try one more point. “Look, Cadence,” he said, scooting to the edge of his chair and attempting to look into her eyes from across the room. “That horrible bitch, Holland, the redheaded Vampire, she is still out there. And she is partially responsible for the death of your friend. She did nothing to stop Carter from taking Drew. She would have killed all of you last night if she had been given the opportunity. You know what you need to do. The choice is easy.  The opportunity to stay young and healthy practically forever, to stay just as beautiful as you are today for decades to come, who wouldn’t want that?  We want you. We need you. What do you say, will you join our team?"

              Though she was desperately trying not to, Cadence burst into laughter. His face looked so sincere, and yet his words seemed canned and trivial.  “I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t mean to laugh, I just, I need a while to think about this. It’s really a big decision, a life altering decision, and it’s not one that I am willing to make on hardly any sleep in over twenty-four hours.”

              Jamie rested his head on his hand.  Cadence couldn’t tell if he was thinking or listening. Finally, he turned back to her and said, “Alright then, I understand. Why don’t you go get some rest and we’ll talk about it again tomorrow—or this evening?"  She agreed and grabbed the overnight bag she had brought in with her, carrying it up the stairs to her grandmother’s guest room.               

              As she rounded the corner, she heard Eliza say, “Well, that went over well,” followed by what seemed to be the sound of a pillow being flung across the room.

              “At least they get along,” she thought to herself.  She knew, if she decided to convert, she would be fast friends with Eliza and Jamie. But the thought of having Aaron in her head twenty-four/seven seemed a little much to consider right now, especially since he seemed to be moving in on his own, even without the technology the others had implanted. She resolved not to think about it again until after at least a three-hour nap, at which point she would be refreshed and ready to make her decision without hesitation.

Chapter Five

              There is a small threshold of consciousness, somewhere between waking and dreaming, when one is not quite cognizant of all the waking world holds, nor has one quite lost the grip on those fleeting fragments of dreams that linger.  For Cadence, this was the most dangerous and feared state of mind because, she knew, even before she fluttered off to sleep that, upon waking, for just a brief synapse, she would, in fact, forget that Drew was gone.  It was in that moment, just before fully rejoining the wakened world that her mind would momentarily allow her to believe that all was as it should be, and then, as the memories rushed in, filling the vacant tide pool of her conscious mind, so too would the realization that something was amiss, an occurrence had transpired.  Just as the pounding waves crush and carve the solid stone, so too, would the remembrances force her mind to submit, causing the same rush of initial pain to beat down on her once again.

              It was for this reason alone that she had been thankful to forgo true sleep for as long a she had.  In her experience, being physically exhausted was much easier to deal with than even the briefest moment of reliving the horror she had felt the day before in realizing that Drew was dead.  But after a few hours of sleep, she was brought crashing back to reality, reliving those moments all over again as her mind let go of one world and focused in on another.  

              As her eyes flittered, she slowly arrived back where she had left off.  The sun poured through the cracks in the curtains, a reminder that she played such a small roll in the cast of the universe that it mattered not how she felt or her degree of grief, the march of life clambered on despite her.

              And yet, after her discussion with her grandmother, Eliza, and Jamie, she did feel slightly less insignificant.  She rolled over on the small twin mattress, adjusting the blankets and attempting to block some of the sun’s rays from her eyes.  If what Jamie said earlier were true, perhaps, she may have it within her to make a significant impact on the Clandestine Ternion.  Even after seeing herself on the footage Eliza had provided, she was still having difficulty believing she had performed all of those feats of skill. She had always been a naturally gifted athlete when she had attempted to play sports as a child, but she never stood out. If she had been able to run that quickly up and down the basketball court, perhaps her Optimist Basketball league team would have won the Fifth Grade tournament.

              Even though her grandmother’s house was decent sized, it was also old and noise traveled easily. She could hear voices coming from downstairs and she was certain there were more than three. In fact, she was positive she could hear at least two more voices, one of which she did not recognize, the other one becoming increasingly more familiar.  Perhaps it had been this deeper booming voice that she didn’t recognize which had jarred her back to reality. Aaron’s voice was much quieter and more controlled.  She could hear him, though she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Each time the other man spoke, she could understand every single word. 

              From what she could gather, it seemed that these two were reminiscing with her grandmother about battles from long ago.  It had been difficult for Cadence to place Aaron in the same age category as her own grandmother, to accept that they could be contemporaries. He looked like he was just a few years older than her, and yet, from what her grandmother said, he had to be over one-hundred.  It was just another piece of this enigma she couldn’t quite understand. 

              Occasionally, she would hear the chipper lull of Eliza’s voice and, in some ways, it reminded her of Drew. They had a few commonalities. They were both fairly happy, with bubbly personalities. They were both what Cadence considered “little and cute” in that they were petite and attractive.  They were both easily amused. And they both seemed to over-react a bit when they got their feelings hurt.  One of the things that had crossed Cadence’s mind as she pondered whether or not to go through with the Transformation was that it would provide her with an opportunity to walk away from the painful parts of the life she had known before, while simultaneously ripping her away from all that she had known and loved. This was a delicate balance and one that needed to be weighed carefully. It was appealing in that, given the opportunity to begin afresh, she would no longer carry the burden of familiarity—no longer be forced to see the things and the people that reminded her of Drew.  She would still be working to vindicate her death, which would keep her at the forethought of her mind, but it may also provide her the solace of pretend, as distance often allows one to do.  If she could somehow believe that Drew was truly back safe at home, sitting on her bed reading a magazine and petting her little Chihuahua, Muffin, then, the pain of losing her would be a bit more manageable.  Even though refusing to Transform meant going back to college, returning to class and the pursuit of her teaching degree, she would still be periodically faced with the things that reminded her of where she had been before. Even catching the eye of a fellow Shenandoah High graduate across campus might be enough to send her reeling back into reliving Drew’s final moments again and again for years to come.

              There were a lot of considerations to be sorted through, and she was hopeful that she would be given all of the time she needed to come to her own conclusion without the pressures of those who thought they knew what was best for her.

              She finally decided it was time to go join the others. She stood and stretched, realizing she should probably change her clothes since she had slipped into a T-shirt and linen pants to nap.  She pulled on a pair of jeans from her bag and changed her shirt.  Just as she was deciding it would be a good idea to stop by the restroom at the end of the hall on her way down, she heard a tapping at her door and wondered how he could possibly have known she was awake.

              Despite the fact that she was completely annoyed that Aaron couldn’t at least let her come downstairs without bombarding her with requests to join the good fight, she caught herself glancing in the mirror over the dresser and straightening her long brown hair before she crossed to the door. Catching her breath, she pulled it open unsure of exactly how she knew it was he. But she was certain.

              “Hi,” he said quietly, standing quite a few inches back from the door. She was surprised to see he was wearing jeans and a red long sleeved t-shirt.  She had just assumed that all Guardians always dressed completely in black.  “Do you have a moment?” he asked running his hand through his light brown hair.  If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he had been slightly nervous waiting for her to open the door.

              She contemplated what he would do if she told him no, something she was pretty sure he was not used to hearing, but of course she did have a moment, so she opened the door and let him walk past her into the small guest room. There were no chairs, hardly any furniture other than the small twin bed she had just hastily remade and aforementioned dresser so they stood just inside of the door.

              “How was your nap?” he asked, surveying the room.

              “Fine,” she said, though memories from the excruciating process of waking up still lingered freshly in her mind.  “I’m a little surprised to see you,” she admitted.  “I thought if your choices were this evening or tomorrow, it would probably be tomorrow.”

              He looked a bit uncomfortable which surprised her. She would not have thought he had an embarrassed or shy side whatsoever.  “Well, I hadn’t planned on coming so soon,” he conceded, “But I really felt like it would be best if I just spoke to you myself.”

              “As opposed to those two incompetents you’ve got downstairs?” she asked sarcastically, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow.

              “No,” he said, shaking his head and looking down at the floor.  “They could do it, they’re . . . they’re fully competent,” he was stammering a bit and it caught him off guard.  Why was he having such a difficult time expressing himself to her?  She was, after all just one more human about to be Transformed into a Hunter.  This shouldn’t have been such a big deal. And yet, the weight of it just then seemed enormous. “It’s just, I’m not sure if they realize the gravity of the situation, honestly,” he said slowly nodding his head.

              Cadence took a step backward and slowly began to nod her head as well. “I see,” she said, and then, taking a cue from her inquiry based learning teacher she added, “Tell me more about that.”

              Once again, Aaron ran his hand through his hair, attempting to choose his word with caution but still insure that the message was conveyed adequately. “We are on a bit of a precipice here.  Obviously, you know I am aware of everything they told you earlier.”

              She nodded. Yes, she was aware that he was present during any and all conversations she had had with members of his team.

              “Well, something that was not mentioned to you is that, while the Vampires don’t typically have a leader, they are attempting to organize.  Now, this happens occasionally and we are able to track down this newly appointed figurehead and eliminate them, thus mediating any potential uprisings.” He glanced back in her direction to make sure she was following, which she was. “However, in this instance, it’s a bit different.  If Holland is able to organize her clan and the rest of the Passel come on-board, well, she’s going to be much more difficult to defeat than your typical Vampire Leader.”

              He paused then, giving her an opportunity to ask for clarification, which she did. “Why is that?” she asked. He had noticed that she absently twirled one strand of hair around her finger when she was deep in thought, a habit she was performing just now so he was certain she was contemplating what he had to say.

              “Holland is what we refer to as an Ancient Vampire. She’s not one of the originals, none of them survive, but she is incredibly old. In fact, I’m fairly certain she predates the assigning of the name Holland to the location you’re familiar with. Over the millennia she has increased her knowledge and power, as well as her sway with the other members of her Passel so much so that, should she decide to attempt to lead a Vampire revolt, it could be quite difficult for us to hold them in check. The potential for a holocaust is certainly present, and of course, that is something we must avoid at all costs.”

              She could tell by his tone that he was not embellishing the facts in order to sway her to join his side, and yet it was nearly impossible for her to wrap her mind around the idea of a legion of Vampires sweeping in and destroying humanity.  “That sounds pretty serious,” she said, withdrawing her hand from her hair and resting her pointer finger against her chin.  “Do the others know this?” she asked, referring to Eliza, Jamie, and whoever else had joined them downstairs.

              “Yes and no,” he admitted. “They have received the information, but I think they don’t truly understand the ramifications, considering they’ve never lived in a time or place when Vampires had free reign.”

              The way he said those last few words caught Cadence’s attention. She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. “And you have?” she asked quietly.

              He nodded.  “It’s not pretty,” he said pushing those memories aside and focusing on the task at hand. “We want to avoid that no matter what.”

              This information intrigued her and Cadence made a mental note to find out more information about this at a later time. For now, she wanted to know exactly what he thought she could do about this.  “And how do I fit into this proposal for preventing a Vampire uprising?”

              “Well,” he said, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans, “Your fully invested in this situation now, whether you want to be or not.  I think you need to be completely aware of the situation, and once you realize exactly how Holland’s rise to power may affect you and your loved ones, you’ll know exactly what you need to do.”

              He looked her right in the eyes with that last remark and those penetrating blue eyes seemed to stare right into her very soul, causing her to shutter and take a step back. In doing so, she pinned herself against the wall, and even though she knew there was no reason to consider escape routes, she suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

              Sensing her fight or flight reaction, Aaron took a step back and turned away from her a moment, giving her some room and letting her come down a bit from her initial panicked state.  One thing he could do extremely well was read the emotions of others, and he knew that Cadence was reaching her breaking point. He would either have her resolve in the next few moments, or he would completely destroy any chance he had of her joining them, and they would have to start all over.  This was one of the parts of his job that he disliked the most. Recruiting was never fun, especially in these pressure filled situations.

              After a moment, she cleared her throat and said, “I guess I need to hear more about that.” She propped one foot up against the wall behind her to steady herself. 

              He turned back to face her but was more careful not to look directly in her eyes. For some reason, that seemed to make her nervous, which he found odd. Most people felt comfort when they looked into his eyes, which was a tactic he generally employed in these situations.  “Well, Holland has your card,” he said laying it out for her in black and white. “She holds you personally responsible for Carter’s death—her mate of over three thousand years—and she wants to destroy you and your family.”