Chapter 141
Once I was in my room, I closed the door behind me, sat down on the edge of the bed and called my sister. It went to voicemail. I was so agitated, I almost chucked my phone across the room. I sent her a text. “Now is good.”
I wouldn’t have been shocked if Cadence made me wait an hour or two. Trying to calm my anxiety over what she might have to say and head off my agitation, I picked up my laptop and scanned the news sites, something I’d been doing basically every day since Elliott had mentioned this to me around the time of the killings in Cabo. The headlines jumped out at me. Two plane crashes near Dallas, a school nearby having some sort of vague intruder scare, a truck wreck leaving a man dead. Apparently, my sister had been in Texas.
My phone rang, startling me. I set my laptop aside and answered it. “Hello?”
“Well, hello there, dear sister. You sound irritated.”
“I tried to call you, and you didn’t answer.” I did my best to keep my tone even.
“You said five minutes. That was like… three.”
Groaning in frustration, I said, “What happened in Dallas?”
“Boy, you really are on top of things, aren’t you?”
“Cadence?”
“Fine. We got Sam.”
I was quiet for a long moment, processing that. “How?”
“Long story…”
“How?” I demanded. No one else on the team would’ve tried to skirt answering that question the way my sister did. I thought about saying, “Okay, thanks,” hanging up, and calling Jamie.
“Calm down. Jeez,” Cadence said. “Someone in a little town outside of Dallas used a cell phone we knew had been in Sam’s possession. We did some research and found out he’s been working as a custodian at an elementary school under an assumed name for a while, living in an abandoned house. When we got there, he was fleeing. He’d gotten some help from a friend in the area.”
“A Hunter?” I asked, wondering where the betrayal would end.
“Yes. So… we parachuted out of the plane after him, and then gave chase on motorcycles we’d had the Dallas team bring to us. Aaron stayed in the plane and directed us. But Sam knows how to fly, too. He stole an old airplane from some farmers and took off. Aaron ended up causing him to crash into some sort of wind turbine thing, but Aaron crashed, too.”
“Is he okay?” I asked, thinking she would’ve led with that if he was hurt.
“He’s fine. Not a scratch. But Sam’s not so lucky. He’s pretty beat up. He’s got his own cell down near Laura now, and we’re just letting him simmer for a while until we can figure out what to do with him. But he is seriously in a lot of pain. He was begging for us to kill him.”
I had to think about that for a minute. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because that’s what he wanted. To be put out of his misery.”
“And that’s what we all want, too, isn’t it? For him to be dead?”
“Not if he can suffer for a little while.”
I thought about that and realized I had no idea my sister had this side to her. “Do you think that’s what Elliott would’ve wanted?”
“Yes, I do,” she replied quickly.
I disagreed. I don’t think Elliott would want anyone to suffer like that, but I knew it wouldn’t do me any good to say so. “Well, I guess it’s good that you have him.”
“Yeah, it’s great,” she said. “Why are you not thrilled?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe I just need some time to process this. Besides, Giovani is still out there. He’s the one that started the whole thing with Jack and Laura. He needs to pay, too.”
“Right. We’re concentrating everything on looking for him right now.”
“Me, too,” I reminded her, not sure if her “we” was inclusive of me or not.
“I know. You’re doing a great job. Oh, and by the way, just so you know, I hear Elijah Wood lives in England now, so in case any of his friends come to visit him, you can go ahead and vet that footage.”
“God, you’re a jerk, Cadence!” I practically growled at her.
“Cass! I’m just joking around.” She sounded genuinely startled by my tone.
“Yeah, I know, but it’s getting a little old. I really want to be a part of this, Cadence, and you just keep putting me off. You said I could come and visit soon, and then you didn’t come and get me, and now school is back in session….” My frustration took the form of verbal diarrhea.
“I know, Cass. I’m sorry. I’ll make it happen soon. I promise. Just keep looking for Giovani. We are pretty sure he’s in Europe now, and there’s a good chance it’s Eastern Europe.”
I didn’t believe her when she said it might happen soon, and I already knew where to look, thanks to a conversation I’d had with Aurora, not her. I let out another huff, assuming she was going to tell me in a second that she had to go. Another thought popped into my head. “Have you been seeing these headlines from Philly? This Jogging Path Killer guy?” In the back of my mind, ever since I’d heard about this guy, I wondered if he could be a Vampire. There was just something about him.
“Cass, I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”
I doubted she’d even heard my question. “Okay,” I muttered. “Have fun killing Vampires.” While I sit here and stare at my computer wishing I was the one doing the killing.
“You, too,” she said, and I knew for a fact she was distracted now. She must not have even been listening to me at all. “Love you.”
She hung up before I could respond. Frustrated, I tossed the phone aside. She had no idea how important this was to me or how lucky I thought she was to be older and have already Transformed. It just wasn’t fair, and I found it quite annoying.
Half of me wished Elliott was here so that he could brainwash my obsession with watching the footage out of my mind, but I knew even if he was available to do that, I wouldn’t let him. As much as I felt like it was slowly killing me, I was also compelled to keep looking. At least now, I could concentrate on Giovani and Zabrina. I hoped they would be together when we finally found them because I had a good feeling I’d spot them if they were right next to each other. And it wouldn’t be any celebrity sighting the next time I made the call to my sister.
