Chapter 521
Cadence took the middle of the road and tried to stay diplomatic, which was best for the team but still irritated me slightly. “I don’t think it matters now. I can see why you would just help out in this situation, but if it happens again, make sure you tell me, or Aurora, or whoever is in charge, what’s going on as soon as you can, just to keep us informed.” I sucked in a breath, biting back a response. She knew I would’ve told her if she had been here, but what good would it have done for me to tell the other two? “No one is telling anyone else how to use their special powers.” She glanced around the room, and I could see she was trying to make sure the other ladies knew not to mention this again.
Then my sister attempted to be funny. “Except Jamie. If one of us tells him to heal us, he better do it.” Everyone else chuckled to be polite, but not me. It was clear she was trying to say I hadn’t done anything wrong when I’d helped Eliza, but I wished she’d just come out and say that instead of playing to the middle of the issue.
“Did you say you talked to Heather about this?” Elliott’s voice had my head turning back in his direction. At least we were back on topic.
“Yeah, I had lunch with her and asked her about it. She didn’t really have any ideas either.”
He nodded, and the group went quiet for a few moments again as everyone contemplated the situation. “So...” Jamie began, drawing our eyes his direction, “we have hundreds of missing people, and then these creatures show up out of nowhere. That can’t be a coincidence.” He ran his hand across his chin, still thinking.
I agreed with him, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what the tie was.
“Do you think these monsters are our missing people?” Hannah was looking at Jamie, but I got the impression she was talking to whoever wanted to answer. “Why wouldn’t they just turn into regular Vampires?”
“That’s the million dollar question,” Aaron said. If he hadn’t figured it out yet, I didn’t feel so bad for not having any answers. “If Daunator is at the root of all of this, is he capable of turning people into Vampires and whatever these things are?”
I knew what he was saying. Could Daunator choose what his victims became? A thought popped into my mind, and once again my mouth was moving. “All of the Vampires I’ve seen Resurrected recently have come from other Vampires, not Daunator. Honey, for example, was turning people by the dozen until Eliza started tracking her down.”
“Do we have any history on Honey?” Aurora asked, but she was looking at Aaron, not me.
“I’ve never heard of her, but that name seems so odd to me. Her name and picture are in our database, but no other information. I wonder if she’s changed her name recently.” He let out a sigh and shook his head. “I wish Christian were here.” I wasn’t sure if Christian would be able to find anything else out about her or not, but I knew he had resources at headquarters he couldn’t use in the hole in the ground. “Cassidy?”
Aaron was talking to me again. My head shot up from the table where I’d been staring to meet his eyes. I tried not to flinch.
“How deep did you go into her head? Did you see her change?”
“No, I didn’t go that far. Sorry.” I should have, but I had so many tasks to get done, I’d never spent the time or energy it would take to see Honey’s Resurrection. It hadn’t seemed important at the time, and I wasn’t sure why it was now. Maybe they just wanted to know where she may have been hiding during the raids.
“Is the database something we can look through and see if we can determine if these lead Vampires, or whatever you want to call them, are recently turned or have been around for a while?” Aurora was looking at Aaron for an answer again, though I’m sure she would’ve taken a response from anyone.
He replied, “Yeah, we can do that. But it’s not very intuitive, and without Christian here, whoever takes that task on might be here a while.” Everyone looked disappointed to hear that response, but I thought we were getting off task a little bit. Why was this so important to everyone else? Honey was dead, after all, and Eliza and her team were on the tracks of the others.
“Who’s Eliza’s team after next? Is it someone whose head you can get into, Cassidy?” Now Hannah wanted me to help? I tried not to make a face at her as she continued. “Maybe you can find out if he’s been dormant all this time like Daunator or if he’s new.”
I wondered why Hannah didn’t already know who the next mark was, but once again, I bit back my true feelings. She didn’t seem like she’d been very involved when she was in charge. “It’s a guy named Sylvester. I can try.” Again, I wasn’t sure why this was important.
“Why would Daunator be giving these people up so quickly if they’ve been part of his clan for so long?” Elliott sounded irritated, like his head was about to explode. I was almost there.
“What do you mean?” Cadence asked. She wasn’t up to speed yet, apparently.
“I mean, if he’s all powerful, more powerful than Holland, why wouldn’t he put a shield around them, like she always did, keep the likes of Eliza from wiping them out?”
I had wondered the same thing but didn’t have an answer.
“Maybe he’s not capable? Or maybe he doesn’t need them anymore?” Jamie speculated.
“No, he’s definitely capable.” I felt certain with that response. “He’s able to produce an even more powerful shield than Holland. You guys, I hope you realize this dude is serious bad news. I mean, he makes Holland look like a knock-off Barbie version of a Vampire, like the kind you can get at the dollar store.” I glanced around, hoping they understood what I was saying. They may have thought they knew what we were up against, but I was the only one who’d been in his head.
