Vampire Hunting Isn’t for Morons E-Book

Johnson ID

• Herausgeber: ID Johnson
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Walking around in other people's heads can get messy... especially if those people are vampires.
Learning that I have the powers to read vampires' minds might make me an invaluable part of the LIGHTS team, but it's a lot to swallow, especially now that I've moved to Kansas City full-time. I miss my friends, my parents, my old life, but I'm also excited about what's to come.
Sometimes, it's hard for me to tell which of my sides is the true me--the hunter or the vampire--and it just takes one tricky hunt to get me all off kilter. Can I get myself back together again before my sister Cadence needs me to help rescue our cousin in Melbourne, or should my team be worried that the vampires have infiltrated me?
My name is Cassidy Findley, and this is my life as a teenage Vampire Hunter.
The Chronicles of Cassidy is a retelling of The Clandestine Saga specifically for middle grade through high school readers told from the perspective of high schooler Cassidy Findley. 

Leseprobe

Vampire Hunting Isn’t for Morons

ID Johnson

Copyright © 2019 by ID Johnson

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover by Sparrow Book Cover Designs

Created with Vellum

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For the real Kass, who left us too soon. We will never forget you, Kassidy. I wrote this book with you on my lap. We rejoiced together when it was done. You were my best pal. I’ll see you again some day, sweet girl.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Epilogue

A Note From the Author

Also by ID Johnson

Chapter 1

Adults tend to think that teenagers are too impatient, that we want what we want when we want it, and that we just keep complaining until we get it. And I guess that’s true, for the most part. I mean, it had been for me anyway. I had wanted to be a Vampire Hunter so bad that I ended up doing the most dangerous thing possible and almost got myself killed in the process. That was four months ago, and even though I tried to go back to school and my normal life, with everything that had happened to me, I just couldn’t adjust. How could I keep going to high school with a bunch of kids who had no idea what they didn’t know? So… I found a way to get what I wanted. Only, now that I’m here at LIGHTS (Lincoln International Guardian and Hunter Training Station) I’m not really sure this is what I want either. Perhaps it’s because there is no one else like me in the world—not another Vampire Hunter/Vampire Hybrid. Or perhaps I am just one of those people who will never be happy. I had thought ever since I first heard about this place, about a year ago, that once I got here, everything would be just perfect. But here I am—and it’s not perfect. Not at all.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great things about being at LIGHTS, especially since my dad ended up having to stay at his job a little bit longer than we anticipated. So my parents still live in tiny Shenandoah, Idaho, and I live in Kansas City with my sister, Cadence, and her fiancé, Aaron McReynolds, both of whom just happen to run this operation. How they manage to coordinate the movements of thousands of Hunters and Guardians all around the world is beyond me, but I’ve been impressed with how my sister has stepped in and taken over the position our Grandma Janette vacated back when Grandpa Jordan died before we were even born. Cadence has her own way of doing things, which I think maybe drives Aaron crazy sometimes, but in a way, I think he welcomes a little bit of madness. It must be hard for him to live in a world that’s out of sync when so much about him demands order and structure.

I’m sure I’ve added to that chaos. Their apartment is huge since they renovated and made two suits into one. My room is all the way on the opposite side of the building from the master bedroom, and I like it that way. It’s close to the door, so I can come and go as I please, and it’s super quiet. I thought maybe my sister would try to keep a leash on me since she’s filling in for Mom and Dad, but so far she’s treated me like a responsible teenager, and I’ve tried not to do anything to jeopardize that—well, anything else. I mean, other than running off to Philadelphia and getting myself scratched by a Vampire. But that was back in October, and I’m good now.

It’s also very strange having my friend Elliott Sanderson back. He was dead for about eight months, and I had no idea we could actually call him back to us through the use of the Blue Moon Portal. Apparently, only a couple of people did, and they weren’t saying anything. I guess the blue moon Cadence used to bring him back in January was the first one we could’ve tried anyway. I’m really happy she went behind Aaron’s back and did that, but I think he would’ve stayed mad at her for a long time if Grandma Janette hadn’t used the same portal to cross over and be with Grandpa Jordan again. Aaron can be a jerk sometimes, but I don’t think he was capable of being rude to my sister right after our grandma essentially died. Also, he was afraid something terrible would come through the portal in exchange for Elliott’s return—like a demon vampire or something. He says Dracula came back the last time the portal was opened. I guess there’s a chance he’s right, but so far, nothing crazy has happened.

Well, except for this dream I had a few nights after we returned from Philadelphia. I don’t really remember it at all. But I fell asleep in the living room while my sister and Aaron were making wedding plans, and apparently I said, “The time is now!” whatever that means. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t recall much of it at all. Just something about a desert and a woman and a man I sort of recognized but knew I’d never seen before. I assured them both it was nothing, but Aaron seemed to think perhaps it was more important than even I knew. Maybe it is, but so far, I don’t feel any different than I did before the portal, except the guy I thought of as an older brother is back.

And he’s my boyfriend’s dad, which is super weird. I mean, I go to Brandon’s apartment to hang out, and Elliott is there. It’s cool—we’re great friends. But then I think, is he going to tell Brandon to take out the trash or something? Elliott’s been more like a friend to Brandon than a dad. I think he’s trying to figure out what he’s supposed to do. He hasn’t been a dad in a really long time, and I guess he feels like he screwed it up pretty bad the first time around. He doesn’t really talk much about that. He also doesn’t really talk about Brandon’s mom, Amanda Keen, whom I’ve never met but don’t care for. She’s an alcoholic, and I’m not exactly sure what went on between her and Brandon because he doesn’t like to talk about it, but I think she may have been at least a little abusive. Elliott is gone right now, on his way to Pryor, Oklahoma, to visit Amanda. It’ll be the first time he’s seen her since before Brandon was born (something he knew nothing about, by the way), and Brandon really doesn’t want him to go. But Elliott said it’s just something he has to do. There’s a pretty good chance this isn’t going to end well.

I’m not exactly sure what it is that’s holding me back from all of the happiness I thought would be mine the second I moved to Kansas City, but there’s just something unsettling still. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I’ll just always be an angsty teen. Or maybe it’s something else. Maybe once I complete my training and become a full-fledged member of the team, I’ll feel better about the whole thing, but I did more than anyone to catch Gibbon in Philadelphia, and I still don’t feel like I quite belong. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a Hybrid, and no one else is. If I could talk our Healer, Dr. Jamie Joplin, or our tech guy, Christian Henry, into creating more Hybrids, maybe then I’d feel like this was the life—but I don’t think that’s an option.

So, I’ll just go about my training, trying to take it one step at a time. It’s hard being the only one like me, but most days, everyone around me seems to forget. Thanks to the colored contact I wear that disguises my gray Vampire eye, I look like everyone else. No one can tell I’m not all Hunter. I think a lot of the new recruits don’t even know, which is a good thing, too, because soon they will all be spread out into the world. I like some of them; others, I’ll be happy to see them go. Mostly, I’ll just be relieved when I’ve completed my training so I don’t have to haul my rear end out of bed so early in the morning to be tortured by Aurora Howe, my coach. She’s awesome, and I’m so glad she’s the one who’s training me instead of my sister, but unlike most Guardians and Hunters, I still need my sleep. They don’t seem to care about that.

“You ready, Cassidy?” Aurora asked, looking down at me as I stood in front of The Hill, this incredibly steep, mountainous obstacle we practice on. I knew I was having trouble focusing, mostly because I could feel my sister’s eyes on me all the way across the gymnasium. She was in one of the rooms across the hallway running on a treadmill, something she does every morning, but that morning she seemed particularly fascinated with my progress for some reason. I wished there were curtains over those windows.

“I’m ready,” I assured Aurora. I tipped my head up to look her in the eyes, but that’s hard because she’s well-over six feet tall. She smiled down at me and blew her whistle, and I took off up The Hill, trying my best to beat my time from before.

I figured out a long time ago that it’s faster to jump up and down the hill, but that doesn’t do much for my endurance, and that’s what I was working on. So I ran up and then turned at the top and sprinted back. When I reached the bottom, Aurora stopped her watch and nodded. “Good job. Eight seconds.”

That did seem like a good time, especially since the last girl who went, Tara something-or-other, had taken about ten seconds longer than that. She was pretty new, though, and I don’t think that running was her forte before she Transformed. She has brown hair like me, but her eyes are a deep chocolate brown, and I think we might be friends if I was sure she was going to stay here. I don’t think she will, though. My sister only wants the best Hunters on her Kansas City team, and I can’t imagine Tara will ever be more than mediocre unless something catastrophic—or miraculous, perhaps is a better word—happens.

She clapped for me, though. “Nice work, Cass!”

“Thanks,” I said, catching the eyes of a tall blonde girl, Addy, who isn’t my biggest fan. You might think the other recruits would be nice to me since my sister or her fiancé is their boss, depending upon whether they are a Hunter or a Guardian, but that doesn’t seem to be working out for me. When I first started my training, one of the girls I was working with said that no one liked me because they knew I’d be taking a spot on the KC team, and that’s where everyone wanted to be. That was a few months ago, and all of those people have moved on now. The only other Hunter my sister kept was a girl named Ashley who doesn’t have to train with us anymore because she’s passed all her trials. We also kept a Guardian named Mickey. And Brandon, who still sometimes works out with us when he can. There was no way my sister was going to send Elliott’s son anywhere else, even before Elliott came back from the dead, so he had to be a part of our team. And he’s really good at what he does. He’s one of the only Guardians who can keep up with my sister.

I guess I was afraid to get too attached to Tara because I didn’t want to have her leave, but as she smiled at me, I thought for a moment, we really could be friends. And that might be part of what I’m missing here. Back home in Shenandoah, I really only had four good friends. I was a member of the cheerleading squad, and in a way, those girls were my friends, too, because we bonded over cheer. But really, Lucy Burk, Emma Sullivan, Milo Parker, and Wes Stanfield were my besties. I miss Lucy and Emma like crazy. I talk to them almost every night, but until they are here, too, I don’t think I’ll be completely comfortable.

And they will be able to come here as soon as they are seventeen and/or ready. Lucy wants to finish high school, which means she has about a year and a half. Emma wants to go to college and then come here and work in the tech department, despite the fact that the head of technology, Christian, is a weirdo. Emma’s brain works completely different from anyone else I know, though, and I am sure she will be a huge asset.

I worry about Lucy. She’s athletic enough, but she’s a little immature. I hope she figures life out a little bit more before she packs up and moves here. There’s no guarantee she’ll get to stay on our team, either, but I’m hopeful I can pull a few strings when the time comes.

We moved on to the next obstacle, a course Aurora laid out specifically for us to work on our agility, which consisted of jumping through tires, crawling under wires, that sort of thing, and my eyes wandered back to the room where my sister was working out. I noticed Aaron had come over to stop her, which isn’t a good sign. My sister’s running time is sacred. She only takes an hour a day to work on herself, and she turns her Intelligence Assistance Communicator, or IAC, off while she’s running. That’s a little computer chip we have in our eye that lets us talk to each other without even opening our mouths. The fact that Aaron came all the way over here from his office to speak to her made me wonder what in the world could possibly be going on.

“Cassidy?”

When I’m not paying attention and Aurora says my first name, it’s usually a gentle nudge, unlike our other trainer, Shane Talberson, who had the boys outside somewhere punishing them. He is a big brute who could easily palm my head, and I have never much cared for him. Turns out Cadence doesn’t either, but he’s been here a while, and I don’t think we can get him moved. It is a thought I entertain from time to time, though, particularly right after he’s screamed, “Findley!” at me like I’m a maggot and he’s a drill sergeant.

“Sorry,” I mumbled at Aurora, who smiled at me and continued with her directions. I could see in her eyes that she was also wondering what was going on with Cadence and Aaron, but she didn’t say anything, and I returned my attention to the obstacle course just in time to see Addy completely wipe out on one of the hurdles. Since she is usually rude to me, I wanted to laugh, but I kept the giggle stifled and turned away. Tara had her hands over her mouth in shock that Addy might be hurt, and I wished I was as kindhearted as she is.

Addy was up like nothing had happened and back on her way, and soon it was another girl’s turn, then Tara, then me. I flew through the course with no problems, scoring the fastest time, which made me proud but only won me the applause of Aurora and Tara. I figured the rest of the girls would just be nice to me since I’m already on this team, but I think there might be something else besides that going on now. Maybe they don’t like me for another reason. Maybe they don’t like that I’m part Vampire. Maybe they don’t like me cause I’m me.

“All right, ladies,” Aurora said, holding a clipboard in front of her she carries around for no reason. “That was great! Now, as far as I know, we are on schedule for tomorrow morning, 9:00 sharp. But something is going on with the Leaders right now, so I’ll let you know if that changes.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. I had seen Cadence take off for the showers a few minutes after Aaron arrived in the gym, but I had no idea what was happening. I wondered if Aurora had gotten some info, and I wanted to hang around a little while after everyone else left to see if she’d tell me what was going on, but I doubted she would. She is my friend, but only as much as being my sister’s number two will allow her to be. In other words, she’d always pick her loyalty to Cadence over me.

“You did great today,” Tara said as we walked along, trailing the other girls. Neither one of us really liked the locker room situation much. I think Tara was self-conscious about her curves, and since I am only sixteen and some of these girls are almost twenty-one, sometimes I feel like a prepubescent woman-child in their presence. I’d just as soon let them clear out. Sometimes I even go back to the apartment before I shower, if I know that Cadence and Aaron won’t be there when I get there. I don’t think Aaron much cares for me bringing more odor home than is absolutely necessary.

“You did great, too,” I said to Tara, who rolled her eyes. “What? You’re really coming along!”

“Please!” she said, wiping the sweat off her brow. “At this rate, I’ll be assigned to Timbuktu.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. We really did have a Timbuktu team, and they weren’t half bad, but I got her meaning. “I seriously doubt that, Tara. You’ll get some great location, some place exciting where you’ll get to go on adventures when you’re not hunting.”

“I wish I could be as optimistic as you are,” she sighed. “Do they ever tell you anything about where they are planning on sending us?”

“No,” I replied quickly. It was true, and I didn’t want anyone thinking I had anything to do with it. “I’m not even sure who decides honestly. I mean, I know Cadence and Aaron keep the people they really want, but after that, I don’t know if Aurora and Shane send people out or what.”

“At least there’s a good chance I’ll get to stay in America,” she said as we entered the locker room. “I don’t speak any foreign languages.”

I laughed again. Every Hunter and Guardian in the world had been required to come to Kansas City to train, but since my sister had really improved the recruiting process, there were so many foreign recruits, she’d had to change things up a bit. It had taken her a while to convince Aaron, but now, there were training facilities in every country, and only two subgroups of recruits came to Kansas City—other than the American recruits. All of them still came here. My sister wanted anyone who was really, really bad to come and do a stint with Aurora, Shane, and Meagan, who also did some training, and anyone who was really, really good. They never told anyone which category they fit into, but it was usually obvious. Antonio, an Italian who trained with us whenever the genders weren’t separated, was definitely on top of his game, while Mika, a girl from Spain, was having trouble with just about everything.

“Wherever you go, I’m sure it’ll be great,” I concluded.

“Must be easy for you to say,” Addy chimed in as she headed off to the shower. “You already have a team.”

“Yeah, must be nice having the boss as your sister,” Gina, another girl who usually only had a few sharp words to say to me, added, on Addy’s heels.

“Just ignore them,” Tara recommended, leaning over and whispering to me. “They’re just jealous because you’re better than they are.”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “Or maybe because I am already on this team, and they’re not.” I sat down on the bench in front of the lockers and pulled off my tennis shoes. “I’m not sure what the big deal is anyway,” I continued. “We’re in Kansas City, Missouri, for crying out loud. Aren’t there more exciting places out there for people to drool over?”

“Sure,” Tara said, sitting down next to me, though she didn’t even bother with her shoes yet. “But we know what’s here. We know this is the strongest team, with the best leadership, and the world’s best Healer. I mean, if I had to choose between having Jamie around when I get hurt or some no name Healer who may or may not be able to put me back together again, there’s no question in my mind where I’d want to be.”

I hadn’t really thought about it like that before. Jamie had been the one to save me when Zabrina scratched me, and I was about to turn into a Vampire. If he hadn’t injected me with Transformation serum, even though I was about six months too young for the stuff, I would’ve turned into a Vampire or died. The Healer had also saved my sister at least once, as well as Aaron, and who knows who else. He hadn’t been able to save Elliott, though, because at Sierraville, Jamie had gotten shot himself.

“Are you all right, Cassidy?” Tara asked, and I realized I’d slipped off again. “Sometimes you get this look in your eyes, like you’re not really here.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just—Jamie was the one who saved me, you know. I was thinking about that.”

“Right,” Tara said, but I don’t think she quite got it, and I wasn’t exactly sure what she knew and what she didn’t. I definitely didn’t want to talk about it.

“Well, I know why I’d want to stay here,” Mika was saying as she got dressed. “And it’s nothing to do with that doctor man.”

I cocked my head to the side and looked up at her as her damp, curly hair sprung out of the top of her T-shirt. “What is it, then?”

“Yeah, why do you want to stay here?” Tara asked, her forehead as crinkled as mine.

“Seriously?” she asked in her thick Spanish accent. “Who wouldn’t want to have a boss as hot as a supermodel? I mean, I don’t care if he is marrying the other woman. I don’t mind looking at him.”

“Right,” Tara muttered, and I just stared at her. I know that Aaron is probably the most attractive man many of these women have ever seen, but most of them don’t say stuff like that to me, or in front of me. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I didn’t say anything at all.

Mika giggled. “You see him as a brother, I guess. I see him as… a goal.” She finished dressing, gathered up her stuff and headed for the door.

“What a weirdo,” Tara mumbled, finally moving to take off her tennis shoes. “Who says something like that about a person’s soon to be brother-in-law?”

There were still no words. Luckily, Addy was back. “What? Mika going on about Aaron again?” she asked, opening up her locker and pulling some clean clothes out of her bag. She had her towel wrapped around her but was still dripping a little. “It never ends.”

“She could at least drool over one of the guys in our group,” Gina offered. Her dark hair was also dripping on the floor, and I wondered why these people even bothered with towels if they didn’t know how to use them.

“Yeah, I don’t know. The guys in our group are all lame. Except for when Brandon joins us.” Addy said my boyfriend’s name like he was a certain type of candy bar she’d been longing for and couldn’t wait to devour. I didn’t like it.

“He’s not even in our group, though.” Gina finally seemed to know how to use that towel and dried off her ebony skin before she began to dress. I tried not to stare since it made me very uncomfortable that she was so free about her body.

“True. But he trains with us a lot. I wonder why he does that. I’m not complaining or anything. It’s nice to have someone attractive to look at. He looks so good in those blue shorts he sometimes wears….” Addy was dressed now, and she leaned back against the lockers, her face tilted to the ceiling.

“Seriously?” I finally asked, realizing I was going to have to speak up if I wanted this to end. “You do know you’re talking about my boyfriend, right?”

Addy and Gina both turned to look at me like this was brand new information. “Boy, for people who like to gossip, you don’t know much,” I muttered, grabbing what I needed in order to shower and dress in the other part of the locker room.

I was almost around the corner when Gina called out, “Brandon Keen is your boyfriend?”

“You sure about that?” Addy shouted after me.

“Pretty sure!” I shouted back, stepping into a damp stall and turning the water on with my clothes still on. I probably didn’t want to hear what else they had to say anyway. Both of them were older than me by a few years, older than Brandon, even, but one of the things Aaron is constantly reminding me is that age doesn’t matter so much after you Transform. That’s probably a good thing since my sister isn’t even twenty-one yet, and he’s a hundred and seventy something-or-other. Still, it’s no secret those girls intimidate me. Yet another reason to complete my training and get away from them.

I showered longer than I intended to. I knew they’d be gone by the time I got out even if it was a quick shower, but the warm water running over me seemed to clear my head a little bit. My IAC was on, but I wasn’t paying attention to anything coming over the newsfeed, and I knew Brandon was working on his homework. He tried to do our Pre-AP Algebra before I did so he could help me with it. Yet another reason I was glad he was my boyfriend.

Eventually, I turned the water off, dried, and grabbed my clothes from where I’d stashed them in the one corner of the shower that wouldn’t get wet. When I was fully dressed, I went out to put my shoes on and saw Tara sitting on the bench, brushing her almost dry hair. “I thought maybe you’d drowned,” she joked.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I didn’t know you were waiting on me. You could’ve sent me an IAC.”

“No, I wasn’t. I mean, maybe I was. I just… those girls are so stupid, you know?”

“I do,” I replied, slipping my sneakers on with my most comfortable pair of ratty jeans. One thing I did like about being here was I could wear whatever I wanted to and didn’t have to worry about looking cool or even what the temperature was. Out in the real world, we had to dress for the weather, but here, we could wear shorts in January without anyone raising an eyebrow. Humans had no idea what they were missing out on with this temperature adjustment business that happened once you Transform.

“Do you want to know what else they had to say, or would you rather not?” Tara stared at me intensely, and I couldn’t decide whether it was better to know or just forget it even happened. What difference did it make anyway?

“What?” I asked with a sigh, finishing packing my gym back.

“Addy said she guessed Brandon knew how to suck up to the Leaders, and Gina guessed that’s why they’d put him on the team so quickly. Then, Addy reminded her that he’s Elliott’s son, and she didn’t know who that was—who Elliott was--so Addy said that he’s Aaron’s best friend, and called him ‘the dead guy.’ I’m not sure what that means. Anyway, Gina said at least we are lucky that Brandon comes to train with you then or else there’d be nothing to do but check out a bunch of little boys, and Addy laughed and said, ‘It won’t last. She’s too immature.’ Then, they stared at me for a really long time, and I just sat here like an idiot and didn’t stand up for you. Sorry.”

The entire time Tara was talking, I was shaking my head. “I thought I was done with high school,” I murmured. “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure if I really needed that information or not. It was kind of cool to know that older girls were jealous of my boyfriend, but I didn’t really need their opinions.

“Sure,” Tara replied with a shrug. She put her hair up in a ponytail, and I decided to wait for her, even though I just wanted to get out of the locker room and go work on my assignments. Hopefully, Brandon would come over for a late lunch—I was sure he’d already eaten at least once since it was past noon—and we could forget about those stupid girls. One thing was for sure, neither of them would have a spot on our team if I had any say in it. And I didn’t, but I liked to think I had a little sway.

“What are you going to do the rest of the day?” Tara asked me as we walked out.

“I have homework,” I replied with a groan. I wished I could double up my classes so I could finish high school early, but Cadence wouldn’t let me do that when I had so many other things going on.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. You’re in high school still, right?”

“I am.” I wasn’t embarrassed about it. After all, I was only sixteen. “What about you? Are you taking any college courses?”

“No, not right now,” Tara replied. “I think I will, but I have to do this first.” She said it with a determination about her, and I wanted to ask more, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to get too close to her when she was likely leaving, so I just nodded. “Hey, why did they call Elliott that dead guy? Do you know him very well? I’m not even sure which one he is. But he’s your boyfriend’s dad?”

“Yeah, it’s complicated,” I replied. No one knew about the Blue Moon Portal except a handful of people because Aaron didn’t want anyone to use it. It would’ve been impossible to keep the fact that Elliott had died and come back from the dead from people who had been here a while and knew him the first time and went to his funeral, so Aaron and Cadence had confirmed it was really him, back from the dead, and refused to explain further. “There are some things that we’ll just never know,” was about all I could say, and I shrugged.

“I see,” Tara replied. “I won’t ask you more then.”

Because we could walk super fast, we were almost to the apartment building where the new recruits stayed, which meant I’d be saying goodbye to Tara and heading over to the permanent residence apartment across the street. “It was nice chatting with you, Tara,” I said as she started up the drive.

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t live here,” she laughed. “It was nice talking to you, too, Cassidy. Maybe we could hang out some time, if you want.”

“Sure,” I said, but I knew I would never want to do that because there was no sense in making friends with someone you couldn’t keep. I had enough friends to miss right now without adding Tara to the list. I waved and headed on across the street, glad to be done with training for one more day and praying that part of my journey would be over soon.

Chapter 2

The apartment was quiet when I got there, which always makes me happy. Cadence and Aaron have an office on campus a few blocks away, but sometimes Cadence likes to work from here. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s afraid she’ll drive Aaron crazy with her disorganization, or if he drives her crazy telling her not to put her feet on the desk or to quit bouncing her knee, but whoever thought it was a good idea to put them in the same room, even if it’s a big one, probably didn’t think it through. So a lot of times, when I get back from training, she’s here. Luckily, this was not one of those days.

I dropped my gym bag on the floor inside my room. (I learned a long time ago you never drop your bag by the door if you don’t want to have it flung at your head in the middle of the night by a Guardian who doesn’t sleep much and keeps a pretty tidy ship.) My stomach was growling, but I decided to call Brandon on the IAC and let him know I was home before I wandered into the kitchen. He replied that he’d be there in a few minutes, so I thought I may as well wait. Lots of times, he’ll fix me something to eat while I’m working, and what he makes is always better than what I can throw together. I guess that’s one small bonus of not having an attentive parent. At least you know how to make lunch.

I grabbed my laptop and plopped down on the sofa. My sister kept all of her fancy art in the remodel, which makes sense since Aaron bought it, and he brought in some pieces, too, so now I can study European history in the same room as an actual Monet and a Van Gogh, which is super cool, except for there’s not really anyone to tell about it. I don’t know any of the other kids in my “class” because everything is virtual, and even when one of my teachers tries to do some sort of interactive chat session, there’s not much I can learn about any of them through a textbox.

Once again, I was missing my friends. I let out a loud sigh to an empty room and stared at my laptop, wishing I could FaceTime Lucy and Emma, but they were at actual school at the moment, and even though it was lunchtime there, I doubted I’d even be able to hear them in the cafeteria. Everyone else, including Milo and Wes, think that the death of my grandma—on top of everyone else that has died recently—was the last straw, and I moved in with my sister to get some space. It made sense, considering none of them knew Elliott was alive, again, except for Lucy and Emma, and everyone at my school had known him. We’d also lost Jack and Drew, and all the students at Shenandoah High knew I was close to Jack and that Drew was friends with my sister. I didn’t really like that a lot of people probably thought this meant I’d gone a little nuts, but then, if that’s what it took to get out of there, I was willing to do anything.

And now here I was questioning that decision. Should I have waited until I graduated?

The door opened and Brandon walked in with a huge grin on his face, and I remembered all the reasons why I wanted to move to Kansas City. “Hey, there, beautiful,” he said as I stood up to embrace him. He kissed the top of my head, and I stood there a little longer than I normally would, which prompted him to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I assured him, letting go and sitting back down on the couch. He sat down next to me, but I could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t quite believe me. “I’m just… missing Lucy and Em,” I said before adding, “and my mom and dad a little bit. And Milo and Wes….”

“So… I walked into a Cass pity party? Am I underdressed?” I smacked him in the leg, but his joke worked. I was laughing. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I know it’s hard.”

“Do you miss your friends at all?” I questioned. I hardly ever asked him anything about his life in Pryor because I know he didn’t want to talk about his mom, but I was under the impression he had quite a few friends back there. He never talked about any of them.

“Not really,” he said with a shrug. He had recently cut most of his curly brown hair so that it was more wavy than anything else at the moment. I think he did it because he was tired of people telling him he looked just like his dad, but I missed those curls. When he moved his head, they used to dance around, giving me an excuse to reach up and straighten them out. Now, I just folded my hands in my lap. “I miss a few of them, but mostly I’m just happy to be here.”

I nodded. I knew what he was saying. But he’d been here a little longer than I had, and it seemed like he fit in with the other guys on the team a little easier than I did. Mickey, for example, was nineteen, not even a full year older than Brandon. And Brandon seemed to get along pretty well with the really old guys, too.

Not that I didn’t. In fact, I got along with some of the guys better than I did the girls. I was used to having girlfriends, though, so this was an adjustment. Aurora was more of a mentor than a friend at this point, and Cadence was my sister before she was anything else. I liked Ashley, but she was almost twenty-two and so much more mature than I was. I knew I’d feel a lot better if I had a solid friend who was a girl, someone to talk girl stuff to, but I didn’t know how that was possible unless Cadence or Aaron decided to hang on to one of the new recruits.

I decided to change the subject. “Did your dad leave this morning?”

“Uh, about an hour ago, I think,” Brandon said, now looking uncomfortable himself. I know he didn’t want his dad to go talk to his mom, but I had a feeling things would turn out for the better because of it. “I’m not sure what he’s going to do all day since my mom won’t be home until 5:30 or so, depending upon the line at the liquor store, but I’m sure he’ll figure something out.”

He’d just slipped that shot at his mom in there. I couldn’t blame him for it, though. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to notice it or not, so I didn’t go back to it. “Knowing Elliott, he’ll stop at a few truck stops along the way.” We both chuckled because Elliott has always been an eater, but ever since he came back from the dead, he seemed to be eating for two or three people. It was unbelievable.

“Speaking of food, are you hungry? Do you want me to fix you some lunch while you take your algebra quiz?”

I just stared at him with my mouth hanging open for so long I nearly forgot to breathe. “Quiz?” I finally asked.

He had a smirk on his face that was a huge reminder why those other girls in the locker room were talking about how cute he is. “Yeah. It’s only six questions, though. But it’s timed. Once you start, you have thirty minutes to complete it.”

“Dang it,” I muttered, eyeing my laptop like it was the enemy. “Is it hard?”

“Nah, it’s not too bad.” He was so much better at algebra than I was, though. “Just don’t forget to simplify any fractions. That’s all I missed.”

“What did you get?” I asked as he stood, heading toward the kitchen, I imagined.

“Ninety-six,” he replied. That wasn’t bad. I was considering asking him to take it for me when he said, “Cass, you’ll do fine.”

“Right,” I said with a nod. I knew he was right—I could at least pull out a B--but I hated math, and I hated quizzes. I looked around the room for a second as he started banging pots and pans in the kitchen, which isn’t super close to the living room, but apparently cooking sounds carry. “Hey,” I said, grabbing my laptop and shouting down the hallway, thinking I should’ve just used my IAC if I wanted to make sure he heard over the racket.

He heard me, though. He stepped back into the long hall that runs through the dining room into the kitchen, an inquisitive expression on his face. “Yes, dear?”

I laughed. It sort of was like we were an old married couple, and I would be the lucky wife to have her man cooking while she went off to do some work. “I’m going to go into Aaron’s office where it’s quiet.”

“Are you saying I’m too loud?” He made his hurt puppy dog face, and I laughed again.

“No, but it’s a lot less distracting in there where everything is straight and orderly. And I swear he put two layers of sound proofing in the walls.

“Won’t he get mad if he knows you’re in there?” Brandon asked. It was a legitimate question.

“He doesn’t mind as long as nothing gets moved.” I had asked him before, and while he seemed reluctant at first, he just reminded me he would notice if anything was displaced even a fraction of centimeter, and I knew that was true.

“Do you think his X-ray vision detects fingerprints?” Brandon shouted over his shoulder as he headed back into the kitchen.

I knew he wasn’t really looking for an answer or else he wouldn’t have asked while he was walking away, but that got me wondering. I’d have to ask Aaron when he got home. He had a lot of powers the rest of us didn’t have thanks to a situation with a serum Christian was working on that was supposed to turn Guardians back into humans. They already had one for Hunters, which my grandmother had used right after my grandfather passed away. But this one wasn’t quite ready yet, and if my sister hadn’t showed up in time, Aaron would probably be dead. As I sat down at his desk, I thought it sure was strange how many members of our team had saved someone else’s life, but I thought that was probably one of the reasons why everyone got along so well.

Well, not everyone. I still had to wonder sometimes what Christian was doing here. Sure, he was decent as tech guys go, but I know that Emma could replace him in a heartbeat and probably do a better job than him. He was such an odd character. Sometimes, I wished my sister would just get rid of him. And he and Elliott butted heads all the time.

I realized I needed to concentrate if I was going to do well on my quiz. Aaron’s desk only had one stack of papers on it, so I knew I wouldn’t be disturbing anything. I grabbed a scrap piece of paper from where he keeps that and a pencil and opened up my laptop. Hopefully, I’d be able to do every calculation within the program our algebra teacher uses to torture us, I mean teach us, but just in case, I wanted to be ready.

I finished the last problem with twenty-seven seconds left on the timer and closed my laptop with a loud exhale, proud of myself for getting it all done. I knew the program would grade the quiz immediately, but I wanted to wait a few minutes to check my score and just relish in the thought that I was finished. Besides, I figured Brandon would be done with lunch since he knew it would take me thirty minutes to do the quiz. It had probably only taken him half as long to complete it.

I walked into the dining room to find him lighting a candle, two plates of chicken and pasta ready to eat, with cloth napkins and the good silverware. “Would you like your pop in the can or on ice, my lady?” he asked, taking the stance of a waiter with his arm out in front of him.

Laughter pealed out of my mouth before I could even thank him for going to so much trouble. “You really didn’t have to do all of this,” I said, shaking my head.

“My pleasure, my lady,” he replied in some odd British-ish sounding accent. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Can or ice?”

“Oh, the can’s fine,” I replied, taking a seat. I spread the napkin over my lap and waited for him to return before digging in. I really was starving. The pasta was a little overcooked for my liking, but other than that, it was great. I remembered the first time he’d cooked for me, for my whole family actually, when he and Elliott had made pancakes, bacon, and eggs. That had not tasted quite as good. I think it may have had more to do with two squabbling chefs than talent on either of their parts now that I’ve had more meals cooked by one or the other of them, though

“How’d the quiz go?” he asked when he was about halfway through eating. I could only imagine this was his second lunch today, at least, and my mother’s voice in my mind said something about “growing boys….”

“Uh, it was okay. I didn’t check my score,” I admitted. I was just about full. He always put way too much on my plate, more than I could possibly eat.

“Why not?” he asked, tipping his head to the side like he was studying an insect.

Shrugging, I pushed my plate forward a bit, a signal I was no longer hungry. He looked at my food, and I assumed he’d eat at least the chicken out of it once he was done with his own meal. “I don’t know. I’m not really in the mood for disappointment today.”

Brandon stared at me for a few more seconds and then returned his gaze to his plate, and I realized what he was doing. After a few more bites, he asked, “Would an eighty-five be disappointing?”

My eyebrows shot up. I was used to getting As in other subjects, but considering we were talking about a college prep course in my worst area, I’d take it. “No, that would be fine.”

“Good. Because you got a ninety.” He smiled broadly at me, and I couldn’t help but grin back at him.

“Are you serious?” I asked, certain he wouldn’t tell me if he hadn’t gone in and checked.

“Yeah. You made the same rounding error I did on the third problem, but she gave us partial credit. And on the fifth one, you forgot to move your decimal point.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what decimal point he was talking about since I’d sort of already blocked all of it out, but I was proud of myself. I hadn’t even cheated. It was kind of hard to cheat with my IAC when it was math. I sat back in my chair and just smiled for a few seconds, until he was laughing and reaching across the table for my food.

The front door opened, and I immediately remembered I’d forgotten to bring my laptop back to my room. It was still sitting on Aaron’s desk. I didn’t think he’d be too upset about that, if it was even him, but I needed to remember to get it so it wasn’t in his way.

My sister’s voice came down the hallway a few seconds before she did. I could tell immediately that she was concerned about something. I caught Brandon’s eyes and then looked at my sister, who had been calling my name but was now standing at the end of the dining room table looking at me expectantly.

“Cadence?” I said, waiting for her to go on now that it’d taken her all of five seconds to find me.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt your lunch. Or Brandon’s lunch anyway….”

His mouth was full, so I answered, “It was my lunch, too. I’m just finished. What’s up?”

She sighed and pulled out the chair next to me, and I knew whatever it was, I wasn’t going to like it. She sat in it sideways and put one of her feet on the rail to my chair so that her knee was bumped up against my leg. I turned to face her but didn’t shift all the way around. “Okay, so we think something pretty major is going on….”

Anytime my sister starts a sentence the way one of my friends would start it, I know she’s been going over what she was going to say to me for a while, trying to word it in a way my teenaged brain would best absorb it.

“Does this involve me, too, or should I go?” Brandon asked. “I mean… if you’re talking about hogging the bathroom or using too much hot water….”

“You can stay,” Cadence replied, rolling her eyes. I knew this was a work problem as soon as she sat down, and I figured he did, too.

“Cadence, just tell me what happened. I saw Aaron come and grab you out of the gym, so I know whatever it was, it had to be important.” I wondered if that was one of the reasons I’d been so uncomfortable all morning. In the back of my mind, I had a feeling something was going on, and while I am glad when big picture problems of the Clandestine Ternion—our two branches of it, anyway, Vampire Hunters and Guardians—affect me, it almost always means I will have to do something uncomfortable.

“All right. There was a Vampire attack last night at a campground in California. A girl about your age and her dad were camping, and a Vampire attacked him. He didn’t make, it but she ran and was able to get help from a park ranger.”

“That must be some fierce park ranger,” Brandon noted.

“Right. He’s one of us. He hadn’t Transformed yet, but he’s likely in the process of it now. We hope he’ll join us.” She shook her head, and her brown hair, which is almost exactly the same shade as mine, rocked back and forth. “Anyway, the fact that the attack happened in a national park got us looking more closely at the decline in Vampire sightings lately. As you both know, we haven’t heard much out of our foes in the last few weeks. Aaron has created a diagram that marks all of the locations of attacks, and we saw a pattern. They all have something to do with travel.”

“So you think they’re moving?” I asked, wondering where she might be going with this.

“Possibly,” she nodded. “But we don’t know where they would be going.”

“Are there any Eidolon Festivals happening?” Brandon asked, now finished eating and swiping the napkin back and forth in his hands over and over again as he contemplated Cadence’s words.

“Not that we know of,” she said with a shake of her head. An Eidolon Festival is basically a Vampire party where they are allowed to do whatever they want to so long as no innocent people are taken without the person’s consent. It had been what got us all in this situation in the first place since Cadence had attended one with her friend Drew who let a Vampire lead her into the woods. My sister started her Transformation process that night when she beheaded that monster named Carter, and his girlfriend, Holland, came after my sister. Luckily, Cadence was able to kill her, too. I only knew about all of this well after it was over since that was back when they were all trying to keep me in the dark.

“Okay. So, what is it you need from me?” I asked, knowing there was more to this story than she’d revealed.

“We need you to try to make contact.” Each word was measured, like she thought I might spring out of my chair and scratch her eyes out for suggesting it. “If you can find out more about what might be going on….”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t have to. I was nodding. I hadn’t really tried reaching out much lately, not since I’d spent so much time in Gibbon’s demented head, but every time I did it, I got better at it, and it didn’t seem like they even knew I was there most of the time. Not unless I wanted them to. “Okay,” I said again, this time a little more quietly. “What do you want me to find out exactly?”

“Most of all, what’s going on. Where are they headed, why are they acting so strangely all of a sudden.”

“They are Vampires. They always act strangely,” Brandon remarked and then looked at me to see if I was offended. I was feeling more Hunter than Vampire at the time so I didn’t say anything.

“Fine,” I said, nodding.

“Great.” Cadence let out a long breath. “We have a hunt coming up, that RV park in Butler?”

I had heard mention of the place, but I didn’t know for sure if it was a go or if I was accompanying the rest of the team. I still didn’t. “You want me to see if I can find out what’s going on there?”

“If you can. And any more information about that dream you had might be useful, too.”

Now, I was really puzzled. “How could other Vampires know anything about my dream?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “But, maybe you could see if any of them know what that phrase you said means.” I looked at her, waiting to see if she’d repeat it or if she’d trust I knew what I’d said. She didn’t say it, so I nodded again. “We are trying to get this park ranger to come in and get started. We think he’ll be a really good Guardian, and we can use as much insight into exactly what’s happening as we can get.”