Chapter 137
Somehow, I must have dozed off, because what seemed like a few minutes later, I woke up to Jamie gently shaking my shoulder and realized the SUV was stopped in my grandma’s driveway. I sat up quickly, simultaneously wiping any drool that may have seeped out of my mouth on the back of my hand. Luckily, it was dry. Jamie switched from calling my name to laughing and jumped out of the car.
While I wasn’t exactly sure what was so funny, I felt like he was poking fun at me a little bit, so as I got out, I called to him, “You know, a good prom date would’ve come around and opened my door.”
“A better prom date wouldn’t have fallen asleep,” he countered, and I had nothing to say in response to that, so I kept my mouth quiet.
My grandma met us at the door, smiling and happy to see me as always. “There she is!” she gushed, hugging me and kissing me on the cheek. “You’re getting so tall, Cassidy.”
“Hi Grandma Janette,” I replied kissing her on the cheek. I thought she looked a little bit shorter than the last time I saw her, a few weeks ago, but I hadn’t noticed I was getting any taller. I slipped past her as she hugged Jamie, too, and called him her favorite Healer.
The scent of freshly baked cookies filled the air, and I couldn’t help but stop and breathe them in. “That’s right. A fresh batch of chocolate chip just came out of the oven. We’ll chat for a bit, and then we’ll have some lunch and dessert!”
My grandma always had a plan, and the more I learned about her past, the more I realized why that might be. Her Queen Anne house was much too big for one little old woman, and now that I realized my dad hadn’t even actually grown up here, at least not full-time, I wondered why she wanted such a big house, but I supposed that wasn’t one of the more pressing of the questions I had.
I sat next to her on the sofa, and Jamie took a seat across the room from us as if he was there to offer support but not really to interfere. Grandma picked up an ancient photo album and sat down, placing it on her lap. “Well, Cassidy, you certainly know much more about the Ternion than I expected you to by the time we had this conversation. Most of the people I’ve spoken to have already started the Transformation process and are a bit older than you.”
“That’s okay, Grandma,” I assured her. “I can handle it. I’ll be sixteen in a few months. That’s almost old enough to Transform.”
She patted me on the knee as if to say “almost” wasn’t quite good enough. “Tell me what you know, darling,” she said, putting me on the spot.
It was hard to consider where to start, but I supposed she just meant in general terms, not about what my sister had been up to or anything. “Well, I know that there are Vampires, Hunters and Guardians,” I said.
“Oh, good. Then you already know about the three Passels. That’ll make it a little bit easier.” Grandma looked at Jamie who gave her a half-smile. I wondered if he had been hesitant to bring me there, like he might have to take the blame if Grandma got angry I already knew so much. “What do you know about each?”
Another difficult question. “I know that the Vampires are the bad guys. That they can kill Vampire Hunters, but not Guardians. I know that Guardians can only be killed by Hunters, and unless you use these new titanium bullets, only Vampires can kill Hunters, though now I guess that isn’t true anymore since Aaron killed Camilla.” That last part had been an assumption based on the way he’d told me Camilla was deceased. I looked at Jamie to see if he’d correct me, and when he didn’t, I was proud of myself for inferring that, but also upset that it was true.
“Boy, you know a lot!” Grandma interjected, looking at Jamie who only shrugged.
“I know that the headquarters in Kansas City and that you and Grandpa used to live there, but that he was killed by a Hunter.” I still needed the details on that. “I know that the Transformation process used to be painful and long, but now there’s a serum that can make it easier, although I’m not sure Cadence was being completely honest with me when she sort of glossed over hers, like it wasn’t a big deal.” I looked at Jamie when I said that, but he seemed awfully tight-lipped. “I’m not sure what else I know.”
“That’s a pretty good start, sweetheart,” Grandma said, and I suddenly felt like a pupil who had received a gold star. “Really, the only correction I want to make is that Vampires are not necessarily bad. They have a purpose. And while Vampire Hunters are meant to keep the balance, they are not allowed to completely wipe out all the Vampires from the face of the Earth.”
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. “What purpose do they serve?” I asked, thinking of nothing.
“Vampires are allowed to feed off of the underbelly of society for a reason, darling. So long as the lives they claim are of those who have or would do harm to others, it’s permissible for them to kill.”
I had not seen this coming. “So who decides whether or not they will do harm?”
“That’s tricky. Usually, we wait until a person has already done harm to deem them as fit for Vampire fodder.”
“And is just any transgression worthy of that label or do they have to have done something pretty bad?”
“Well, that’s up to the Guardian Leader, but generally speaking, murderers, rapists, drug addicts who steal or harm others to get their drug of choice, armed robbers, those sorts of people will make the list. Anyone who harms a child.”
“Do they have to be convicted in a courtroom?”
“No,” Grandma nodded. “Our ways of knowing who has done what are far superior to any judge or jury.”
“What ways are those?” I asked, still a little stunned.
“Well, as you know some Guardians have certain gifts. Jamie is a Healer, for example. Elliott was a gifted… illusionist, if you will. Some Guardians can read the emotions of others, which will give them an indication as to whether or not a person is guilty of a crime. So those who have not been convicted can still be judged under the right circumstances. When in doubt, a Vampire is not to attack.”
“Can a Vampire tell who is fair game and who is not?”
“Generally speaking, they should be able to. Vampires have telepathy that allows them to communicate. They also have a sort of sixth sense about people that let them know who is good and who is evil, for the most part. And those who come in to get their tracker installed as they are all meant to would have access to information and lists.”
“That all seems very complicated,” I said, shaking my head. “Trackers?”
“Yes. All new Vampires are required to come in and get a tracker installed.”
“And how do they know this?”
“Those that turn them are required to tell them.”
“And does that happen?”
“Compliant Vampires usually make sure their offspring come in, yes. But Compliant Vampires also only turn people who want to be turned. A Compliant Vampire taking out a criminal wouldn’t want to turn that person” my grandmother explained.
“So some people want to be Vampires?” I looked at Jamie and his expression said, “search me.” It was hard for me to believe anyone would want that life.
“Sure. It’s an opportunity to live forever if you make the right choices.” Grandma shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Okay,” I said, letting the idea go for a bit. “So about how many Vampires come in to get tracked?”
Grandma looked at Jamie, and I assumed that meant she had no idea. “Probably about ten to twenty percent,” he replied. “There are times when Compliants don’t know they’ve turned someone, so those people might not know to come in. Sometimes they don’t even realize they are a Vampire until it’s too late, and they’ve violated one of the rules.”
“Like, killed someone?” I asked incredulously.
“Precisely,” he said. “Sometimes we try to cut them a little slack, but most of the time, it’s easier to just end them.”
I thought about Jack. How had he felt when he realized what he was? I also remembered what Elliott told me about that probably not actually being the guy who dated my sister. “Do you think that’s not really the same person, once they’ve become a Vampire?”
“It’s hard to say,” Jamie replied, adjusting in his chair so he was leaning closer to me. “There are different theories. I honestly don’t know what I believe.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s the same person,” Grandma spoke up. “I think something happens to them, makes them different.”
It was a lot to take in, and I was glad I’d had a while to let most of this marinate. I wondered what it must’ve been like to be Cadence, finding all of this out at the same time. I wondered if she thought that was Jack.
“So… Guardians are meant to protect Vampire Hunters from Vampires, but they were also mean to protect Vampires from Vampire Hunters, if that sort of a situation should ever arise,” my Grandma continued.
“Has it ever?” I asked, having a hard time envisioning such a situation.
“Not that I know of, but should there ever come a time or place when Vampire Hunters choose to drive Vampires into extinction, they shall have to do it without the Guardians. They are not to kill Compliant Vampires.”
“But they could, couldn’t they? I mean, there’s nothing physically stopping them, right?”
“They can,” Grandma nodded. “It would set the whole world out of balance, though.”
“Can Vampires kill Guardians with titanium bullets?” I was looking at Jamie.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” he replied. “But we are testing that to find out.”
“Do you think they can?” I pushed on.
“Probably.”
I looked at my Grandma. “That could be a problem.”
“Aurora and Hannah have gone on a mission to stop any more titanium bullets from being exported, and we have a plan to close down production,” Jamie explained to me, as I continued to stare at my grandmother’s unwavering face.
