Chapter 168
Villisca, Iowa, 2014
The moon illuminated the field where Elliott stood near a copse of trees, waiting for a moment he was sure was going to change everyone’s lives forever, though he wasn’t quite sure just how. Around him, partygoers reveled in the liberty of knowing they were free to be themselves, vampiric tendencies and all, and there was little anyone could do about it.
He hated Eidolon Festivals. When Aaron had explained the concept to him a few years ago, he’d thought they were ridiculous, and Aaron should prohibit them. He didn’t care if they went back centuries and were an attempt to appease the bloodsuckers into behaving during normal circumstances, saving all of their reveling up for this one sacred night. He was all for turning their guns to full blast and plowing the monsters down right now. Every time one would walk passed him, he wanted to jump out and ring their scrawny necks.
But they were there on a peace-keeping mission, and as usual, he would do what he was told to do. Stand here. Protect any human who says no. Leave any of them who don’t protest to their own devices. Oh, and keep an eye out for Cadence Findley.
That was it—the game changer. The thing that would make his life different from this point on, and he knew it, though he wasn’t quite sure how. Just as he’d known it was Aaron when the Guardian Leader had walked into Andora’s that night so many years ago, he knew when Janette Findley’s oldest granddaughter showed up at this party, everything would shift.
The idea was just to make sure that nothing evil befell Miss Findley. Elliott understood that. Over the years, he’d gotten to know Cadence from a distance as he had been keeping an eye on her younger sister who, thankfully, was home safe and sound in her bed at the moment, according to the lookouts he’d left on her neighbor’s roofs. He wasn’t about to go off and leave Cassidy unguarded when there were hundreds of Vampires within an hour or so’s drive of the Findley residence. Trying to keep someone safe while also keeping one’s distance was difficult, and he’d grown pretty fond of the little girl with long brown hair and hazel eyes.
And something told him Aaron had grown fond of her older sister, with the same brown hair and striking brown eyes. So much so, in fact, that a few years back he’d asked Hannah to take over watching out for her for him, saying he was too busy to keep Cadence safe and run the world. Elliott suspected it might be something else, though, and he was bound and determined to make sure Aaron didn’t do anything stupid this time. He’d had another run in with stupidity after the Laura Comer problem, and Elliott was about done keeping the boss man out of trouble.
“Am I in the right position?”
Elliott snarled at the sound of Eliza Wrath’s voice coming over the IAC. “Speaking of stupid,” he muttered. Aaron had come to his senses with this one pretty quickly and cut her loose, but not before a botched job where Eliza had screwed up something awful, almost costing her her life. Yet, unlike Laura, she was still on the team. Tonight, she’d be part of the extraction crew, if they were needed, along with him and Jamie, and Elliott wanted to answer if she didn’t know if she was in the right position, maybe she shouldn’t be part of the most critical part of the operation. But Aaron affirmed she was where she was supposed to be, in a much gentler tone than he would’ve used, so Elliott continued to wait for the signal and prayed that the night was uneventful, that if Cadence Finely showed up at all, she’d leave just as quickly—in one piece—having never even known they were there.
He was never a fan of standing around, especially not by himself, when he had to be quiet. Being quiet made him think, and thinking led to memories, and memories led to tears. He wasn’t the crying type even though he had plenty to cry about. Jimmy and Reggie were the two that got him in the gut every time. And images of his kids running around, playing, calling him Daddy. All of that changed the night he Transformed, and Nancy decided she could no longer trust him.
He’d never reached out to Peggy again after the last time she’d called him to tell him Jordan Findley had died. He’d thought about it lots of times, but he always figured there was tomorrow to do it. Neither one of them were going to die any time soon; he was pretty sure of that. So he waited. Maybe he’d give her a call around Christmas next month. Maybe he wouldn’t.
Maybe he should use a social media site to see if he could track down Amanda Keen. It had been eighteen years since he’d seen her, but not a day went by that he didn’t think about her. He’d dated other women since then, but none of them ever meant anything to him the way that Amanda had. Of all the maybes in his life, she was the one that he lingered on the most.
Hannah’s calm voice came over the IAC delivering the news he dreaded to hear and jarring him back to reality. “She’s here.”
Unable to resist the urge to make light of the situation, he replied, “Come on, now. What did we talk about?”
A moment later, with a sigh, she said, “The eagle has landed.”
That got a few snickers out of the rest of the team and a warning from Aaron that he needed to get his act together. He apologized and tried to be more serious, especially since he was fully aware of the stakes.
It wasn’t hard, however, when she came into view. Following her on Hannah’s IAC was one thing, but when he turned his head and saw a group of teenagers coming their way, time seemed to slow down, and he focused in on her face. She was walking next to her ex-boyfriend, her arms folded in front of her, chewing on her bottom lip, an apprehensive expression narrowing her eyes. Someday, she might very well be the most powerful Vampire Hunter in the world, or maybe she’d walk out of here the same person she was when she came in, but for now, Cadence Findley was a scared little girl, and more than anything else Elliott just wanted to protect her, no matter what that meant, even if he had to be the bad guy to do it. That was a role he was familiar with, one he’d played lots of times before. He might’ve failed at keeping the people he cared about safe most other times in the past, but he swore to himself that moment, looking into those dark brown eyes, he’d do whatever he needed to in order to save Cadence Findley.
END VOLUME 3: ELLIOTT
