Chapter 114
Somehow, I managed to force a smile of satisfaction. Looking him in the eyes, I said, "Thank you," and he nodded at me. Thinking there might be a small chance at getting some more information, I probed on. "So, Aaron, what are you?"
That made him laugh, and I imagined there must be some sort of an inside joke I wasn’t privy to as he exchanged glances with my sister. Returning his attention to me, he replied, "I'm a Guardian.”
Cadence looked at him like he’d just proclaimed that he was the last unicorn. "A Guardian?" He shrugged at her, and she threw a pillow at him. It didn’t take much effort for him to dodge out of the way. She shook her head and turned back to me, and I imagine my eyes were like saucers as I tried to figure out what they were going on about. "He's the Guardian Leader, Cass. He's in charge of every Guardian in the world."
Somehow, my eyes managed to widen even more. This whole time, I’d thought he was just in charge of Kansas City, or maybe the Midwest. "Oh, wow," I said, looking back over in his direction. "That sounds pretty important."
Cadence clearly agreed. "Yeah, and since there's currently no Hunter Leader, he's in charge of all of them, too."
"But, we are in the process of electing a new one of those, so hopefully that won't be an issue for much longer.” Aaron’s explanation made me wonder if he might be hinting at something, and my suspicions were confirmed when Cadence muttered a response.
"If we can find a suitable candidate.” The pillow she’d thrown at him earlier came whizzing back in her direction. Without even turning her head to look at him, she stuck her hand up and caught it. My mouth literally fell open. I’d seen her do a lot of amazing things when she thought I wasn’t looking, but I wasn’t expecting this, right in front of my face. She shrugged and said, “I can do lots of cool stuff now, Cass. You should see how fast I can run."
I couldn’t tell her that I already knew that. I assumed Aaron had been implying she would be the hunter leader and remembered how Elliott had told me how awesome she was at her job. I pushed those thoughts aside and realized that I needed to go upstairs, spend some time by myself, and wade through all of this. "I'm… overwhelmed. You're right. Okay. I guess I need to process all of this, and figure out what to do without Elliott.” The last few words caught in my throat, and as I looked from Cadence to Aaron, I could see the pain in their eyes as well. I absently twisted my ring around again.
"I think we're all going to need some time to figure that out," Aaron said quietly.
Once again, I felt entirely selfish. I nodded and said, "I'm sorry. He was your best friend for a really long time, huh?"
"Yes."
That was all he needed to say. I could feel tears in the backs of my eyes and decided I didn’t need to break down and cry like a little baby in front of the man who would hopefully be my boss someday soon, or even in front of my sister again, for that matter. "I think I'm going to go to my room now," I said, knowing this was going to take more than a little bit of time and a whole lot of tears to even begin the healing process. I pulled myself up off of the couch, hoping to make it to the stairs before I broke down again.
Cadence reached up and grabbed ahold of my hand. "Okay, Cass, but there's just one more thing. 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."
I nodded my head. I was used to this charade. Even Elliott didn’t know that Emma and Lucy already knew almost as much as I did. Aaron had already taken my side both times my sister had tried to sideline me, so I decided to try again. "All right, but Lucy and Emma have been helping me with the research, so they already think..."
"You'll have to throw them off," Cadence interrupted. She really wasn’t messing around. Much like Elliott, she was insistent that I keep my information to myself. I wondered if she had any idea just how hard that was. "Tell them you talked to me about it, and I assured you that I'm not a Vampire Hunter."
I could tell that I wasn’t going to get anywhere with her right now, so I decided to save that argument for a later date. If I did have to continue to pretend they didn’t know, it wouldn’t be any different than it already was. It might actually be easier, since Cadence rarely came home, now that…. I couldn’t finish that thought. “What do I tell them about Elliott?”
Cadence looked surprised. "Do they know Elliott?" Her answer told me she was a lot more out of touch with my life than I’d realized.
Exasperated, I exhaled very loudly, the frustration of the last six months building up again. "Cadey, all of my friends know Elliott." How could she not know that?
Cadence looked at Aaron, who just shrugged, obviously staying out of it. "Tell them... he was in an accident."
I didn’t like that answer. I certainly couldn’t tell Lucy and Emma that, not that I wouldn’t be telling them everything I knew anyway. Still, there were people at school who would ask, and I didn’t like giving them a generic excuse that wasn’t even remotely truthful. I asked, "Can I tell them he was murdered? Since he was."
Again, she checked with her boss before responding. I didn’t turn my head, but Aaron must’ve nodded because Cadence said, "Yes. But make sure they don't think he was murdered by Vampires. Because he wasn't."
I tried not to roll my eyes at her. Clearly, it had been a long few days for my sister, and the exhaustion wouldn’t be over for a while. "All right," I quietly agreed. Cadence stood up, and I wrapped my arms around her. “I love you, Sis,” I said, meaning it, despite my frustration. It did feel good to finally hear her admit the truth.
"I love you, too, Cass, so much," Cadence replied. She let me go and I glanced at Aaron, who gave me a small smile, and I headed up the stairs.
Part of me wanted to linger on the stairs like I used to try to overhear whatever they said next, especially since I was pretty sure that it would be about me. But the tears were threatening again, so I hurried upstairs to the solace of my bedroom.
Eventually, I’d have to call Lucy and Emma and let them know what had happened, let them know my sister had confessed, tell them about guardians, and of course, to tell them Elliott was gone, but that would have to wait. I sat down on my bed and covered my face with my hands. If I was quiet, I thought I might still be able to hear his voice, hear the squeak of the window opening, as if he was coming in to talk to me. When I concentrated, I could smell the scent of leather and his aftershave, though I thought that would likely fade in time. The sound of his laughter rang out in my mind, and I could no longer control my tears. I melted into my bed and unleashed my emotions until I couldn’t sob anymore and my throat was raw.
I wasn’t sure when my mom had come in, but I was just beginning to control myself when I realized she was rubbing my back, whispering that it would be all right. I knew her heart had to be broken as well. She had loved Elliott, too. It crossed my mind to ask her if she had been informed that I was now in on the secret, but I had no words. I let her help me take my shoes off and climb underneath the blankets, and I’m pretty sure she stayed there until I fell asleep. The last conscious thought I had before slipping away was that, whoever had done this to Elliott was going to pay, if it was the last thing I ever did.
END OF VOLUME: WHO WANTS TO BE A VAMPIRE HUNTER?
