Chapter 113
That response felt almost as much like a punch to the gut as the revelation that Elliott was gone. It just didn’t make any sense. Guardians were there to protect vampire hunters. "But why would a vampire hunter want to kill a guardian?" I asked, shaking my head slowly, thinking there couldn’t be a logical answer.
My sister sighed loudly. She must’ve been just as puzzled as I was because she replied, "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."
That left only one logical conclusion. "So, it was a vampire hunter that killed Elliott?"
"Yes."
Rage began to well up inside of me again as I tried to keep my voice calm and asked, "And is this vampire hunter still alive?"
"Yes--for the time being."
I could tell Cadence didn’t like that answer any more than I did. "But you're going to get ‘em?" It was more a statement than a question.
The answer didn’t come directly from my sister, though it may as well have. For the first time in several minutes, Aaron interjected into our conversation. “Yes, we're going to get him." We both turned and looked at Aaron, and all three of us nodded in solidarity.
Cadence turned back to look at me, and my head swiveled around to meet her eyes. She continued to explain, which I was shocked at, but I hung on her every word. "We were in a situation where we were trying to bring in a very dangerous Vampire.” I took that to be Giovani, but didn’t mention that I knew his name. She went on. “And a team of Vampire Hunters that were angry with us over another situation ambushed us. Elliott died protecting my friend Meagan. He died a hero--he is a hero."
I remembered Meagan, having met her at Jack’s funeral. I pushed those thoughts aside, not wanting to think of Jack right now and open up a whole other floodgate. I took a deep breath and asked, "So, how are you going to find this vampire hunter, the one that killed Elliott?" I asked, hoping she had a plan. I had suspected it must be that Laura person that Elliott said shot my sister, but they had both indicated it was a male, and Cadence still had no idea that I was aware of that situation. I couldn’t tell her without giving Elliott’s secrets away, something I’d promised not to do.
Cadence’s answer shocked me. "We'll find him," she said, her voice full of assurance.
Him. She’d said him again. So, it wasn’t Laura. And now I had no way of knowing who had killed Elliott, unless I could get her to let me in. "I want to help." I looked her straight in the eyes and made my demand.
Her answer didn’t surprise me. It was the same thing I’d been hearing for six months. "I'm sorry, Cass, you can't, not yet. You're not old enough.” She sounded slightly sympathetic, but I still hated that response.
Of course, my sister had no idea that Elliott had told me anything at all about any of this, so I feigned ignorance. "What? What do you mean?"
With a sigh, Cadence explained, "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."
My response was to proclaim the entire situation “bull,” only I didn’t use that word. I used the same one Aaron had used earlier, and my sister looked at me like I had two heads. I couldn’t blame her. I’d never said that word before. I felt my face begin to turn red as I said, “Sorry. I didn't mean... but Elliott was like a brother to me. You've got to let me do something." Despite my less than polished language, I was still committed to being involved. I hoped she wouldn’t dismiss me again.
Cadence glanced at Aaron who seemed to be leaving all of this up to her, something I found odd. I knew that Elliott had said my parents didn’t want me to know any of this until I was seventeen, but I’d been under the impression these were somehow Aaron’s rules as well. Cadence turned back to me and said, "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." I continued to stare at her, my eyes an unwavering glare. "There are a lot of rules, a lot of other things that you don't know about yet. It takes time, too, 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."
I watched as some sort of revelation crossed over my sister’s face, as if she was just understanding how complicated this new life of hers really was. I agreed completely, and even though I knew a lot more now than I did half an hour ago, I was still fully resolved to be involved. Someone had taken my best friend, my protector. And that person was going to pay.
I could tell I wasn’t going to get anywhere with Cadence right now, though. She was emotionally drained. "Fine," I nodded, "but if there's anything at all that I can do to help find this... creep, you've got to let me." I think she was glad I had used a less offensive word.
My sister didn’t respond, though. Aaron said, "We will,” and I believed him. Maybe he wasn’t quite as bad as I had thought. I was starting to warm up to him now—a little.
