Chapter 331
Elliott Sanderson, Brandon’s dad and one of my best friends, opened the back passenger-side door for me, and I thanked him quietly. Brandon went around, and Elliott hopped into the driver’s seat. My sister and Aaron had driven separately with my parents as passengers. We waited just a second for Jamie Joplin, our resident Healer, to finish talking to my sister and head over. It seemed a little odd that the rest of my family was in the other SUV together, but then, the guys in this vehicle were basically my family now.
“Well, that was depressing,” Elliott muttered as he followed a long stream of cars out of the cemetery toward the Sullivan house. “Tell ya what, if I ever die again, just skip that, okay?”
“You can’t die again,” I said, knowing he was trying to lighten the mood but also remembering how devastated I was sitting at his funeral not even a year ago. “Even if it were possible for you to die again, you’re not allowed to. None of you are.” Elliott had used the Blue Moon Portal to come back from the other side, and as far as everyone knew, there was no going back once you’d come through. So technically, he shouldn’t be able to die. Ever.
“I’m just sayin’... I’ve been to a lot of funerals, too, lil girl, and I can’t imagine anyone sittin’ on the other side thinkin’, ‘Well, look at that! I just made hundreds of people cry!’”
I kept my snarky comments concerning my own tears that had fallen for the man presently speaking to me to myself. Brandon hadn’t been at his dad’s first funeral because he didn’t even know him before he died the first time. Hopefully, he’d be spared ever having to go to a second one.
Jamie was super quiet, and I imagined that was because he was thinking about his own set of funerals. When you’re as old as these guys, you had to see death a little differently than the average human being. I knew Jamie’s parents had been dead for about a hundred years. I’m sure he was thinking about his fiancée, Ellie, though. She’d died at Pearl Harbor. His current girlfriend, Ashley, looked a lot like Ellie, but their personalities were totally different. I wondered if Jamie was wishing he hadn’t come along, but then, he’d needed to check Lucy to make sure she wasn’t actually Transforming. Since she’d killed the Vampire that took her dad, there was a chance she might, even though she wasn’t seventeen yet. Jamie had checked her over the day before and found out she was still human. No one else in the town seemed to be changing either. Of the families that had been attacked, the only other person who had the capability of Transforming happened to be Lucy’s brother Daniel who wasn’t home at the time. He’d walked in a few minutes after Lucy had found her father in the pantry—already deceased. Her mother had been hiding in the broom closet and was so stunned, she hadn’t said a word for almost three hours after the police and our team members arrived.
When she finally spoke, Annie said her husband had done his best to lure the Vampire away from her, and she hoped that her children wouldn’t come home from the basketball game they’d been attending until it was gone, but Lucy had walked in and almost ran right into the thing. Lucy said she didn’t know what came over her, but somehow, she’d managed to decapitate it without actually Transforming. Jamie thought the whole thing was odd and wondered if she hadn’t temporarily activated, but my sister said she understood because she’d had a similar experience when she’d first seen Carter and killed him before she Transformed. Yeah, my sister killed the sucker twice. Hopefully, he’d stay dead this time.
We pulled up near Emma’s house. There were a ton of people streaming in, some from the cemetery, others who were just dropping by to give their condolences. People like to drop off food when someone dies, I’ve noticed. Even if they don’t know you or the person who died, death deserves a casserole.
I saw Jack Cook’s parents making their way up the steps and remembered his funeral, and I saw Drew Peterson’s mom heading off the porch. She’d clearly just dropped something off with Mrs. Sullivan and was leaving. It was her daughter’s death that had begun this whole crazy experience for me, though she didn’t know it. Neither of those families had any idea what had really happened to their children.
“Shall we?” Elliott asked, though he hadn’t moved to unbuckle. I didn’t wanna. I knew Luce needed me to be there. I was certain Emma wouldn’t be able to handle her emotions the way I could since Emma just doesn’t react the same way as most people to this type of situation. But... facing another food-filled extravaganza of the celebration of a life lost too soon just didn’t seem like the type of thing I wanted to spend my afternoon doing.
“Come on,” Brandon probed. I saw my family pull in across the street. My mom was dabbing her eyes. Cadence wrapped an arm around her, and my dad had that ‘lump in his throat’ look about him. Aaron looked disinterested, and I noted he’d been acting odd lately—but I let that idea slip away from me as my door opened. I didn’t even realize Brandon had gotten out.
Inside, there was that bustle of conversation where you can sort of pick up on a whispered word here or there but really have no idea what anyone is talking about. I’m sure much of it was speculation about the marauders. If only they knew the truth.
The Sullivan’s had a nice house, though it was nothing like Lucy’s home, and Emma’s mom, Sandra, had set up a lovely tribute to Dave on a little table inside of the front door. There was a picture of him with his arm around both kids, his wife smiling over their shoulder, and I remembered the day that picture was taken. Lucy had gotten first place in an oratory contest. She’d rolled her eyes just before the picture was snapped, but I could tell she was proud of herself and glad her dad was making such a big deal out of her winning, even if he was telling a lot of dad jokes and chiding her for not knowing how to stop talking.
