Chapter 151
A few hours later, he lay on his back, couch springs poking into his spine, his long legs hanging off the end, a thin blanket covering him as he stared up at the ceiling. It should’ve come as no surprise that Nancy would go looking someplace else for romance. She had never loved him, and if he was honest, he’d never loved her either. They’d tried to force themselves into this marriage on the premise that having a child meant they should be together, but he realized now that was never a good idea. Of course, if they hadn’t married, Michael wouldn’t be here, and he couldn’t imagine his life without the little boy who brighten his every day. His sons were everything to him, so they were worth whatever torture Nancy put him through. But… any idea that he might be able to salvage some sort of romantic relationship with his wife was gone.
He drifted off, thoughts of what he’d seen that night mingling with the realization that it was just a matter of time before his marriage completely crumbled, causing dreams of Nancy as a Vampire and a small amount of satisfaction that he’d ran a stake through her heart. A noise awoke him, and he opened his eyes to see a figure sitting in the chair across the room. Leaping up, Elliott took a defensive stance before he realized his eyesight was suddenly much better in the dark than he could remember it being before, and the woman sitting in the chair was familiar to him.
It had been eight years since he’d last seen Janette Findley, but she looked exactly the same. She was dressed entirely in black from head to toe, her outfit similar to the one his mother had been wearing in some of the pictures from the photo album. Elliott relaxed a little bit, glad to see it was her and not another Vampire. He swiped his hand across his face as she stood and walked to the door. Of course, he followed, even though he was wearing his pajamas and no shoes.
The spring air was a bit chilly, though Elliott didn’t notice it as he’d expected to, not even on his bare feet. She dropped to take a seat on the top step, and he sat down next to her, neither of them speaking for a moment. He had a million questions, and he hoped she had at least a million answers, but he was content to let her speak first.
“Well, how do you feel?” she asked after at least five minutes of nothing.
“Shitty,” was his initial response, and she turned her head to look at him. “I mean—my wife thinks I was going to stab my kids with a knife. Some mythological creature just tried to obliterate my family, and I have to buy a new window.”
Janette began to chuckle, and he decided the last part was a little humorous. “I wouldn’t say Vampires are mythological, per se,” was her answer. “I know it’s a lot to take in. But how do you feel physically? Any pain?”
“Physically?” he repeated. “No, I feel fine. I mean, my legs are a little sore. But I did leap over Mrs. Cooper’s fence a couple of times. And I didn’t know I could kick like that.”
She laughed again. “You can do all sorts of things now you’re not used to.”
He raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean? I didn’t go through your ridiculous Transformation process, Mrs. Findley. I just protected what was mine.”
She looked at him for a moment, her lips drawn into a thin line. “Oh, Elliott,” she finally said. “I know Peggy attempted to explain things to you last year, and you didn’t quite believe her. That’s okay. But, honey, I’m afraid you activated tonight. And now that it’s begun, well, there isn’t much we can do to stop it, only speed it along, if you want.”
It was his turn to stare. “Can’t stop it? Janette, what are you talking about? Are you saying—because I killed those stupid bloodsuckers now I’m one of you crazy Guardian people?”
“Well, technically, I’m a Hunter, but yes, dear. You are. Or you will be. Soon.”
He shook his head. “Nope, nope, nope.” Elliott clambered to his feet, but she grabbed ahold of his arm and pulled him back down with enough force to get his attention. “Damn. You’re a lot stronger than you look.”
“I know I am. And you will be, too. You’ve got to learn to control that. And your speed. You’ll need to explain things to Nancy. And then… when you’re ready, we’d love for you to come to Kansas City to work with us, Elliott. Jordan and I have discussed it, and we think you’d make a fabulous addition to our team. Not everyone is invited to work at headquarters, but you, you’re special.”
“Me? Hell yeah, I’m special. The kind of special that lands you in a padded room wearing a tightly fitted white jacket. Are you shitting me? I mean, pardon my French, but no thank you. I don’t want to be part of your Vampire hunting team, ma’am. I don’t want to be a part of any of this.”
Janette stared at him in disbelief for a long moment, clearly stunned. “Elliott, you just destroyed three Vampires in a couple of minutes that have been stalking the forests in this area for decades. We’ve had some of our best team members trying to hunt these bastards down off and on for years, and no one has gotten close. You ended them in less than five minutes.”
“Yeah, but they came looking for me for some damn reason. I didn’t have to go looking for them, Janette. Why the hell did they show up here?”
She sighed and looked down at the sidewalk leading away from the house for a moment “I told you, you’re special. Sometimes, they decide it’s better to get rid of people like you before the change starts. They probably intended to put your kids in a dangerous situation to make you act desperately and find a way to destroy you before the Transformation process began. It seems to me that your DNA kicked in pretty quickly, young man, and they never had a chance.”
“What? DNA—what?” Elliott asked, dumbfounded.
“Oh, DNA—deoxyribonucleic acid. It’s a substance in your body that has genetic coding written in it. It determines things like eye color, height, weight, and in our case, what sort of Hunter or Guardian we might be.”
