Chapter 148

Cadon wandered back over to the building where he thought he’d find Jamie and Ashley. He just hoped he didn’t run into them making out again. Even though they didn’t look old, they were still his friend’s parents, and that was kinda gross, sort of like walking in on his own parents making out.
Not that that would ever happen again.
He pushed the thought aside. Sometimes it was hard to remember that his dad was gone. He just hoped that his sister was having some luck locating their mom.
Cadon entered the building and heard voices coming from the office on the left, right inside the door. Jamie’s office. The door was open, so he stuck his head in. Ashley and Jamie were sitting across from a couple he didn’t recognize. The male looked familiar for some reason, but he couldn’t place him. He thought they were part of the group they’d rescued from Alcatraz, but he hadn’t really paid too close attention to everyone coming out of the prison.
“Oh, hi, Cadon,” Jamie said, seeing him at the door. “Come on in.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Cadon said, stepping in but not too far.
“No, it’s fine,” Jamie said. “We were just telling Clay and Mabel where Zane went off to.”
Cadon’s forehead crinkled for a second until he realized why the man looked familiar. He looked a lot like Zane. “Oh, you must be his parents.” He remembered how irritated he’d been when he’d met Zane; his father was the son of Aaron’s best friend who’d hated him for killing his first wife, even though Kian had asked him to do just that. The urge to be irritated came back to him, but he tried to hide it. Now that he was the Leader, he needed to be a little less quick to anger.
Clay stood and offered his hand. Cadon crossed the room and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said.
“You, too,” Cadon said before greeting Zane’s mother. “I was really happy that Zane volunteered to go with my sister. It’s a little alarming to think of her in the portals. I know he’ll take care of her.”
“Yes, I’m sure he will,” Mabel said, a worried expression on her face. “We would’ve liked to have seen him, though. It would’ve been nice for him to be here when we arrived--or have even been there when we were freed. I sort of hoped he’d be part of the attack. Although, I guess it’s a good thing he wasn’t in harm’s way. But then, I’m guessing the portal isn’t the least dangerous place in the world.”
Her entire statement sounded like the rambling of a worried mother. Cadon had to wonder how so many years in prison may have affected her. Early on during the Revelation, some of the free LIGHTS members could occasionally manage to sneak in and visit their friends and family members. But after the Vampires’ numbers increased, and they were able to bring in more prison guards, it became pretty impossible except for the savviest of their kind.
Cadon had no idea how long it had been since they’d seen their son, but he got the impression it had been a while from what they were saying.
“I’m sure Zane will be back soon.” He gave them a reassuring smile, but he honestly had no way of knowing that. Why would it be possible for Jo to find their mom quickly when their dad and Christian had been looking for a decade and hadn’t been able to locate her?
He wasn’t holding his breath.
“Jamie, there’s actually something else I’d like to talk to you and Ashley about when you get a chance.” Cadon didn’t want to rush them out of the room, but he also needed to tell them that Mallory wanted to speak to them.
“Sure,” Jamie said. “No problem.”
“We should probably be going anyway,” Clay said, standing.
“Oh, I don’t want to hurry you.” Cadon held up both hands, trying to emphasize that he wanted them to stay.
“No, no, it’s fine.” Mable was out of her seat now, too. “We should get over to our new home and check the place out. It’s so wonderful that you were able to get all of these apartments ready for us in such a short amount of time.”
“It was a lot of work,” Ashley said with a smile. “But we are glad we were able to get it done. We want everyone to feel comfortable here. Once those of you who were held for so long are ready to, we want you to be able to come back into the field with us. If you want to. There’s a lot of work still to be done.”
Clay nodded, but Mable looked a little nervous to Cadon. “We will do everything we can to help. It’s time the Vampires were taken out of power once and for all.”
Clay and Mable headed toward the door. Cadon stepped out of their way as they passed him and waited for them to leave before he turned to address Ashley and Jamie. The door was still open, but he wasn’t too concerned about it. “Do the two of you know Mallory--the human that we brought back with us?”
“Human?” Ashley repeated, looking from Cadon to Jamie and then back again, her mouth hanging slightly ajar. “How did a human survive in prison for all of that time?”
“That is a good question,” Cadon said. He hadn’t figured that out yet either.
“I know her,” Jamie said. “Does she want to Transform?”
“She’s thinking about it,” Cadon said with a nod. “But she wants to talk to both of you before she does it. She wants to have some different points of view to consider before she makes up her mind what is best for her.”
“All right,” Jamie said. “That’s not a problem.”
“We can go talk to her whenever she’d like,” Ashley added. “What room is she in?”
“Room 206,” Cadon told her. “But she wants me to come, too.”
Jamie raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? Why is that?”
The Healer’s expression told Cadon that he thought something romantic might be going on. Cadon wanted to tell him that that wasn’t the case, but he wasn’t sure that he could even get those words out of his mouth. Instead, he said, “I was the one that rescued her, so I guess she feels a little more comfortable with me. She seems pretty nervous in general.”
“Who could blame her?” Ashley asked. “It’s got to be terrifying to be in the situation she was in, where she was the only fresh blood source in a place full of Vampires. Do you remember what it was like for you, Jo, and Scott before you could Transform, after the Revelation started and before you turned seventeen?”
“Vaguely,” Cadon replied. During that time, he’d been more worried about trying to find his mom than the fact that he was still a human. Vampires hadn’t taken over everything yet back then either. “I am sure she had to be scared out of her mind, though. It couldn’t have been easy to live like that for so many years.”
“It would be really interesting to find out how she managed to survive,” Ashley continued. “But I also don’t want to scare her or overwhelm her with too many questions.”
“No, she seems pretty… timid,” Cadon said. He actually would’ve said that she seemed downright terrified, but he didn’t want to say anything that might be considered negative about Mallory because he couldn’t blame her for feeling the way that she did.
“All right. We can head over there now if you’re ready.” Jamie looked from his wife to Cadon and then back again.
“Is there a way to contact her to make sure now is a good time?” Ashley asked.
Cadon nodded. “Her mom has an IAC. I’ll let Annastasia know.” He had to send Annastasia a message to let him know he wanted to talk to her so she’d acknowledge the IAC connection. Once she connected with him, he asked if it was okay if they came over now.
“Sure,” Annastasia said. “Now is as good a time as ever.”
Cadon thanked her and then let the Healer and his wife know what she’d said. “Let’s go,” he said with a nod. Jamie and Ashley headed in his direction, and Cadon led the way, hoping neither one of them could see how nervous he was.
Something about seeing Mallory made his stomach twist into knots and little electric pulses shoot all through his body.
In a good way.