Chapter 167

New York City, New York, 2000
Morris was an odd looking little man, sort of shaped like a bowling ball, and Elliott wondered how he’d ever gotten to be an Area Leader, let alone of New York City. But it seemed he and Aaron had a history, and Elliott wasn’t about to question the boss man’s thinking, not right now anyway. He’d already spent the entire plane ride here questioning his sanity. Why Aaron had gotten involved with the newest Hunter on their team was beyond him. He wanted to see his friend happy more than anything, but Laura Comer was a loud mouth whiney bitch, and those were the most complimentary words Elliott could think of to describe her.
He took a deep breath and headed out to help load up the SUVs they’d be using to move in on the club in a few hours. The planning meeting had gone okay, and he was itching to get into the fray, though his understanding was that he’d be hanging out on the top of the nightclub, which was a pretty tall building, and that meant he’d probably miss out on all the action once again. But this was an important hunt, one the NYC team hadn’t been able to handle on their own. Hopefully, with help from the elite members of the KC team, they’d get this Vampire bitch tonight and put an end to her reign that had thus far spanned thousands of years. What he wouldn’t give to be the one to bring Holland to her knees.
Elliott grabbed a few cases of Berettas they’d brought with them and loaded them into the back of one of the SUVs as Christian hoped down onto the asphalt. “Speaking of whiney bitches,” he thought, forcing a small smile in the direction of his teammate. He was doing his best to play nice.
“Hey, Elliott. How’s it going?” Christian asked, sounding just as fake and forced as Elliott felt whenever he interacted with the other Guardian.
“Not bad. Ready to get to it.”
“Yeah, me, too. This should be epic.”
Christian couldn’t quite pull that word off, but Elliott just nodded and slid the cases inside, turning back to the sidewalk to see what else needed to go inside.
“Isn’t it cool that it’s going down at the Blue Moon Nightclub?” Christian asked, his eyes enlarged in the same way a geek might look talking about some stupid computer game.
“Uh, I guess so. Why?” Elliott asked.
“’Cause, you know. What are the chances we’d end up at a place called the Blue Moon?”
“As opposed to….?”
“Oh, you don’t know. Never mind.” Christian picked up another case and brought it over to the SUV as other members of the New York team Elliott didn’t know and didn’t care to know went about loading another SUV nearby.
Elliott stared after the weirdo for a long moment. “I don’t know what?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing.” Christian surveyed his work and decided that was good. There was one more duffel bag of ammo, which Elliott tossed to him and he stuck inside the vehicle.
“I don’t know what?” Elliott repeated, more demanding.
Christian looked around like he was privy to a juicy secret before he shrugged and said, “It’s just… there’s a legend about the blue moon, that’s all. And… I was just thinking… it would be cool to get Holland at a place called The Blue Moon. Because if we destroy her, the portal would be the only way she could get back.”
Elliott’s face was blank as he looked at the shorter man. “You ain’t making one hell of a bit of sense, Christian Henry. What the hell portal are you talking about?”
“Well, I’m not supposed to talk about it.”
“Then why the hell did you bring it up?”
Christian shrugged. “I don’t know. Sometimes my mouth gets away from me.”
“You don’t say?”
“Look, just forget I said anything okay?” He started to walk away, but Elliott grabbed his arm.
“Hell, no. You mention a damn portal, one that can bring Holland back from hell; I want to know about it.” His voice was a bit louder than Christian would’ve liked, apparently, as he motioned for him to keep his volume down, but no one else seemed to be paying attention.
“Okay, fine. The legend says that, if a Guardian dies, you can put his or her ashes in the light of a blue moon, and a portal will open up from the other side, allowing him or her to cross back over or at least speak to whomever opened the portal. At the same time, they say if something good comes through, so does something evil.”
Elliott couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s the stupidest damn thing I ever heard in my whole life. Blue moon portal. You’ve lost your damn mind, Christian.”
“Keep your mouth closed, Elliott. I’m telling you, if Aaron hears us talking about it, he’ll be pissed.”
With raised eyebrows, Elliott said, “Fine. You don’t have to worry about that because I’m never going to repeat a word of that ridiculous story to anyone.”
Christian narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. “Oh, yeah? Well, I was there when it opened.”
“What?” Elliott asked, leaning in and staring at him like that might tell him if Christian had completely lost his mind.
“That’s right. I saw it open. And I saw Alexander Hamilton step through the portal. It’s true.”
Elliott burst into laughter and couldn’t control himself. He had to step back so he wasn’t laughing directly into Christian’s face. That did have others staring at the two men. Christian angrily stomped off before Elliott even had a chance to apologize, though he tried to send him one through the IAC, but Christian wouldn’t acknowledge his message, and Elliott headed back in trying to get his head on straight.
A few hours later, he was perched on top of a four-story tall building listening to pandemonium ensue inside of the night club. It was difficult for him to discern exactly what was going on, but by the sound of it, Holland was doing something to mess with their IAC devices that Christian claimed couldn’t be infiltrated. Elliott would beg to differ, listening to his teammates go on about being “pretty princesses” and asking each other “who’s the turkey now?”.
Whatever was going on, he seemed to be out of reach, and it wasn’t affecting Aaron or a couple other teammates, although Christian sounded ridiculous, which seemed about right since it was his communication device. “What the hell is going on?” Elliott asked Aaron through his IAC.
“Standby,” came the quick response. “I can’t get Laura into position.”
“Well, that’s really freakin’ surprising,” Elliott mumbled. He looked over the edge of the building, thinking Holland might be making her exit soon, especially since Laura was the cut off stationed right in front of the doorway. He was sure Aaron wasn’t responding to him because he was in the middle of a heated argument with the girlfriend.
The argument ended with Laura’s squeaky voice shouting that she knew what she was doing and Elliott wanting to throat punch her the next time he had the chance. He didn’t care if she was a woman. She was incompetent and irritating as hell.
“Where did she go?” Morris asked, meaning Holland
A half second later, she came into Elliott’s line of view. “God dammit,” he muttered. “She’s out here hailing a cab.” He wouldn’t miss that long, flowing, red hair anywhere. And next to her was one of her minions, Giovani, another creature he wouldn’t mind working over. “Do you want me to see if I can get them?” He knew a jump from here would hurt, but he wouldn’t die, and he was pretty sure he could get her.
“Negative,” Aaron replied, and Elliott cursed again as Holland disappeared in a cab.
“And she’s gone.”
He stared after her for a while, hands on his hips, thinking he may as well go down now, since there’d be no one to convince they hadn’t seen anything—since they hadn’t. The debrief for this meeting better be “epic” as Christian had said earlier because at least one person in their party—maybe two or more—deserved an ass kicking, and he’d be happy to oblige.
Later that morning, before the sun came up, Elliott headed to Aaron’s room to talk about what had happened. He’d seen his boss angry before, but he’d about blown a gasket this time letting everyone have it. Elliott managed to make his way all the way to the balcony before Aaron even looked up. The half empty whiskey bottle next to him might’ve had something to do with that.
Checking the time, Elliott teased, “It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?”
Aaron shook his head. “I didn’t even hear you come in.”
Taking an empty seat, Elliott replied, “That’s ‘cause I’m stealthy—like a cat. Due to my girlish figure.”
His ridiculous comments had the desired effect and Aaron chuckled. He looked at his glass and shook his head, probably thinking he should’ve heard the hotel room door open. He pushed it across the table, and Elliott picked it up and finished it off.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Elliott was sure he was contemplating the discussion he’d had with Laura. While Elliott had been the first to tell Aaron she was no good for him, he also knew the pain of breaking up with someone oh too well. He pushed thoughts of Amanda Keen aside, the only woman he’d truly loved, someone he hadn’t told anyone about, not even Aaron.
“Do you see the Brooklyn Bridge over there in the distance?” Aaron asked, drawing Elliott out of his head.
“Yeah, I see it. It’s pretty cool.”
Aaron nodded. “I jumped off of it once.”
Not sure he heard him right, Elliott turned and looked at his friend for a long moment before exclaiming, “No, shit? Really?”
“Yeah, I did. To kill Jack the Ripper.”
“Wait—do you mean the Jack the Ripper, or like, ‘Jack the Price Ripper, buy your new mattress here today!’?”
Laughing, Aaron said, “No, the Jack the Ripper. Jamie was there, too. That was a long time ago. A different world.”
Elliott nodded. He hadn’t been alive nearly as long as Aaron, but he knew what he meant.
“There was another beautiful blonde with me that day. She’s the one I should’ve tried this with—not Laura.” He shook his head. “Laura… you were right, man. I guess I forced it. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
“She’s a pretty girl. But she’s very immature.”
“Yeah.”
“And batshit crazy.”
Aaron laughed, but he didn’t disagree.
Once again, they fell into silence before curiosity got the better of him. “What happened to the girl on the bridge?”
“She got tired of waiting on me.”
Elliott knew Aaron had been married once, a very long time ago, and he’d never gotten over his wife. He could relate to that, to a degree. As much as he and Nancy had hated each other, there was a sadness lingering there as well. No one wants to admit they’ve loved and lost. “Well, you tried man. And that’s a good first step. Maybe next time you meet a girl, she’ll be the right one.”
Aaron scoffed. “Maybe.”
“Just make sure she’s not batshit crazy.”
Elliott changed the subject, not any more comfortable talking about love than Aaron was, but in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but feel responsible for making sure that Aaron didn’t fall for another girl that would jeopardize the team, no matter how much he seemed to like her and no matter how much he might like her himself.
Something told him that might be easier said than done.