How Not to Be a Vampire Hunter

by ID Johnson

  “It’s not even eight o’clock yet,” Cadence reminded me.

  I took a deep breath, wondering how I could word this in a way to make her understand that I was a little perturbed that she didn’t seem to care that she’d left me hanging the night before. “I know, but you said you’d call me first thing so….”

  “I was up late. Killing a Vampire. Not an easy thing to do and a little taxing on the energy level.”

  “I wouldn’t know.” My answer was snarky, and I attempted to bite my tongue before I said something else rude. It really wasn’t Cadence’s fault I couldn’t Transform yet. She didn’t make up that rule. At least, I didn’t think she had. I decided to get to the first matter of business we needed to attend to. “So, who is this Brandon guy? And why does he seem to think he knows me? He hasn’t been hanging out on the rooftop, has he?” I realized I’d thrown a lot of accusations into that one nice little line of questioning, and I waited patiently to see what she would say in response to all of that.

  “No,” Cadence assured me. “No one’s been hanging out on your rooftop for a while.” She went quiet for a moment, and I imagined that was because she was thinking the same thing I was. Elliott had been assigned to keep watch over me. If anyone else had taken that position since he’d died, it had been without any sort of announcement to me. I supposed he wasn’t the only person who ever sat on my roof and kept watch, but I knew he had done it often enough.

  Eventually, Cadence continued. “I guess there’s really no easy way to say this, so I’ll just tell you. He’s Elliott’s son.”

  I had assumed that the night before, but actually hearing her confirm it had me speechless. I needed more information, but I was afraid that, as soon as I opened my mouth, I would either burst into tears or let go a bunch of swear words because the whole thing just seemed entirely unfair. Again. I took a few deep breaths and finally repeated what my sister had said, thinking saying it aloud would help me make it real. “Elliott has a son?”

  “Yes,” Cadence said. “He actually has a couple of other kids as well, but they never Transformed, and they’re much older than us.” I figured she had no way of knowing Elliott had already told me all of that, and I realized my sister still had no idea how much I was aware of. It could stay that way. For now. She continued. “But Brandon is his child from a woman he was dating in the nineties. He never knew she had a baby.”

  I had a million questions about Brandon’s mom, but for now, I was just glad to hear that Elliott wasn’t a bad parent after all, and he actually had no idea that Brandon had even existed. But then, that made me sad as well. “I don’t know whether to be really happy that there’s part of him left or to be really sad that he never knew.”

  “I know,” Cadence agreed. “I felt the same way when I stopped to think about it for a few minutes. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the first time I saw Brandon I was elated. He’s like mini-Elliott. And he acts a lot like him, too, Cass. He’s sarcastic and rude. Funny as heck. Oh, and he’s an amazing liar.”

  It took me a moment to see what she was saying. “Okay, I didn’t realize that was an asset.”

  “It is when you’re trying to convince humans that they didn’t just see a Vampire,” Cadence explained. I understood what she meant then. She thought maybe Brandon would be able to brainwash people the way that his dad had been able to, and I imagined it must’ve been hard for their team to function these past few months without someone capable of doing that. “But anyway, that’s who you met last night. He hasn’t committed to Transforming yet, though. I think he wants to finish high school first.”

  “And then you think he’s going to come and train with you?” She had just told me he was still in high school, though I didn’t know how old he was. I imagined he was a senior. He looked more sophisticated than the guys at my high school, almost like a college kid. Still, the idea that he could join the team soon, ahead of me, made me slightly jealous for some reason. I didn’t want to admit it, but it was there just the same.

  “I hope so. I’m not sure,” Cadence replied, and I thought I heard the bed again, like she was resituating.

  “Well, it’s nice that you’ll have someone there with you who reminds you of Elliott.” It wasn’t like Brandon would be coming here to visit me, to chaperone my dances, or convince my friends that today was the best day ever. My sister might get a little piece of him back, but I wouldn’t. My heart felt heavy.

  “Yep,” Cadence agreed before she promptly changed the subject. I imagined she could sense my melancholy. “So, what are your plans for today?”

  “I’m not sure. I think it depends if Lucy and Emma ever wake up. Dad’s probably going to make pancakes, but I can’t get either one of them to budge.” I considered pushing forward with my plan, but I was hesitant. I knew I’d have to go into full whiny teenager mode and was dreading it.

  “What time did you go to sleep last night? You called me after eleven,” Cadence asked.

  “I don’t know.” I thought for a moment. It had to be pretty late by the time I actually fell asleep since I’d laid in bed—her bed—for so long. “One or two I guess,” I finally replied, though I had no idea how long Lucy and Emma had stayed up after I ducked out. I could hear their voices for a while as I tried to go to sleep.

  “Well, they’re probably a little tired then.”

  It was true. Emma never slept in. If the sun was up, she was usually up. But not today. “I know,” I agreed with my sister. “But I was hoping they’d wake up soon so we could eat and they’d go home because….” Ugh, I could already hear the whiny tone coming on. Why couldn’t she just read my mind?

  “Because?” Cadence questioned, clearly not just guessing what it was I wanted to ask her.

  I decided to rip the Band-Aid off. “Because… I wanted to see if maybe you would come and get me today and let me spend the rest of the weekend with you. We have Monday off for parent teacher conferences, so it would be the perfect time.” I spat it out quickly, afraid otherwise I would chicken out.

  “Cass….”

  I knew that tone and cut her off. “Please, Cadence? You’re always saying that I can come and spend the weekend with you, and you’ll show me around, but you never do it.”

  “I know, but Cass….”

  “Please?”

  “Cass….”

  “PLEASE??” I was a typical teenage whiner. There was no going back now.

  Cadence groaned. “Fine! But can I please go back to sleep for a few hours? I’ll be there around… noon.”

  I couldn’t believe she had agreed. I was secretly high-fiving myself, but I also didn’t want to wait until noon for her to get here, especially since I assumed she’d be late. “Make it ten,” I bargained.

  “Eleven,” Cadence countered.

  “Ten-thirty?”

  “Never?”

  I had pushed a bit too hard. “See you at eleven,” I said and promptly hung up the phone before Cadence could change her mind. I couldn’t help but smile, feeling like I’d won a small victory. While it definitely wasn’t the same as joining the team, at least I wouldn’t be spending the whole three day weekend in boring Shenandoah. I realized I hadn’t even asked my parents, but I knew they’d say yes. They trusted my sister and her friends to keep me safe, and that was something I needed to keep in mind; even though I was going to headquarters, there was no way in the world my sister would ever let anything remotely dangerous happen anywhere near my proximity. I’d probably spend the weekend sitting on her couch watching movies while she was out hunting Vampires. But it was something.

  I glanced at the time and saw that I still had three hours. I headed upstairs, wondering what I should do with myself while my friends were still sleeping. I wouldn’t even be able to pack with them knocked out in my room. I tried to keep myself focused despite my excitement at finally having the chance to return to headquarters. Cadence likely wouldn’t be too talkative on the trip back, so I sort of hoped she’d bring someone else with her, someo
ne who would tell me stuff. It was kinda funny that my sister was the most tight-lipped of all of them when she should be the one most readily available to answer my questions. No matter. I was going to headquarters, so I was bound to find out something I didn’t know yet. I ran up the stairs, absently wondering if Brandon might be spending the weekend there, too.

  My sister actually got to our house early, which shocked me, but then I found out that she’d insisted Aaron fly her so that she could take a nap. That was fine with me, though. That meant we’d get back to headquarters all the faster.

  Mom and Dad were not thrilled to find out I’d be spending the weekend in Kansas City. “I just think it’s all too fast,” my mom said as I sat in the living room with my bags, waiting for Cadence to arrive. “You’re only sixteen, and barely that. You don’t even have your driver’s license yet, sweetie.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I’d asked, trying not to be snarky.

  “Your mother is just saying, it’s been an awfully lot of change this past year,” my dad had explained. “I think you should just slow down a little, honey.”

  “You know Cadence will keep me safe,” I reminded them. “Nothing dangerous at all will happen to me. I’ll probably be in the safest place in the world.”

  “I know,” my dad agreed with a nod.

  “I just… have a bad feeling about this,” my mom had said, and her face was a little paler than normal.

  “Mom, I’ll be fine,” I assured her again. But something about the way she said that had the hairs standing up on my arms.

  Emma was perfectly content to go home as soon as pancake breakfast was over, but Lucy really wanted to stick around, mostly, I think, to see if Aaron came with Cadence. She talked about him an awful lot, ever since she’d first seen him that day… that awful day when we’d returned from cheerleading camp, but I had talked her into leaving, telling her I was fairly certain Cadence was coming alone. So I felt like a horrible liar when I answered the door and they were both standing there. I decided to keep this information to myself for as long as I could.

  Cadence had wanted to stay and visit with the parental units while I literally paced behind the sofa. She didn’t even seem to notice, though I’m sure Aaron did. I think I was driving him a little crazy, but he did his best to ignore me. My sister told my parents about the Vampire they’d killed the night before in Oklahoma, how Cadence had rescued a little girl from the beast, and it just reinvigorated the drive within me to get on with it already. If my sister was breaking down doors and snapping the heads off of bloodsuckers while tiny children cowered in the corner, I wanted to be doing that, too.

  Eventually, we hugged Mom and Dad goodbye and headed to the airport. The SUV had to be the car of choice since we wouldn’t all comfortably fit in the Lamborghini. But at this point, I didn’t care. I hoped Aaron would fly as far on the edge of being out of control as he drove. I was in a hurry to get out of Shenandoah and on with my life.

  On the plane, Cadence sat in the back with me, but she was asleep within ten minutes of takeoff. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it was quick. Once she was out, the flight seemed to be taking forever until Aaron asked me if I wanted to come be his copilot, which I happily agreed to. The plane was a small one, and it was difficult for me to get into the front seat without waking my sister, but I am very flexible because of cheerleading and I managed to slip into the passenger seat.

  “Want to fly it?” Aaron asked me, and I only gawked at him for a few seconds before he explained to me exactly what I needed to do to keep the plane up in the air and not crash and kill all of us. That was most important to me because I was the only one on board who would actually die if it crashed.

  “So… you just walked away from that airplane wreck in Texas?” I asked him, remembering what my sister had told me had happened when they got Sam.

  “Yeah, miraculously,” he nodded. “I wasn’t sure what might happen if I didn’t jump out, but that seemed like the safest bet.”

  “Crazy,” I muttered. “No parachute, I’m guessing.”

  “No, we were fresh out.”

  “I can’t even imagine Cadence jumping out of an airplane with a parachute,” I muttered.

  Somehow over the roar of the engine he heard me, even though I didn’t think I was speaking directly into the headset he’d given me to wear. “She didn’t,” he replied, sort of chuckling to himself.

  “What’s that?”

  “She didn’t jump.” The smile on his face was crooked and charming, and I imagined it was the sort of thing that made the girls go crazy if they weren’t going to be related to him soon enough.

  “She said she did.”

  “She may have altered what actually transpired a bit.”

  I tipped my head at him. “What do you mean?”

  Aaron cleared his throat. “I threw her out.”

  I was certain my eyes were as big as saucers. “Say what now?”

  “Yeah, she refused to jump So… I tossed her out.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  The fact that he was laughing didn’t negate the earnestness of his tone. “Oh, I’m quite serious. I needed her on the ground. One way or another.”

  “How did you know she wasn’t going to get hurt?”

  “In retrospect, I suppose I didn’t,” he admitted. “But I thought I’d talked her through it well enough. And then, with the IAC, I thought I could keep her safe enough.”

  “Wow. You’re really lucky she’s okay.”

  “Oh, no. She broke her knee. Tore her ACL, meniscus, whole bunch of stuff.”

  Once again, my mouth and eyes were large ovals. “What?”

  “Yeah. Jamie fixed her up, though.”

  “Oh, my gosh, Aaron!” I said, nudging him in the arm. “You broke my sister’s knee?”

  “Hey, if she would’ve bent her knees like I told her too….”

  I was shaking my head at him. “You’re awful.”

  “I know,” he admitted, and I could tell by his tone he did feel bad about it. “But you can’t let her know I told you. She might not want you to know. So… unless she says something to you about it, just pretend like you don’t know. Anyway, I’m glad she was okay.”

  “Fine,” I said. What was one more secret I had to keep, one more thing to plead ignorance about? I wondered if part of it was he just didn’t want the two of us sitting around talking about how awful he was for throwing her out of a plane. I thought about how lucky they all were to have a Healer on the team. “She was okay thanks to Jamie. He’s a good guy to have around.”

  “Yes, he is. I don’t think Cadence has any idea you and Jamie have gotten to be good friends. In fact, I don’t think your sister has had a moment’s worth of time to have any idea what’s going on with you at all.”

  I looked at him for a long pause before I had to look away. There was more to what he was saying than the few simple sentences. “I know,” I agreed. “I guess I shouldn’t hold it against her. She’s been pretty busy.”

  “You shouldn’t,” he agreed. “She loves you. A lot. She’s just… trying to figure all of this out. You’ll see in a year or so. It’s a lot harder than you can imagine.”

  I tried to consider what he was saying. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Cadence’s head lolled to the side in an uncomfortable position and realized just how exhausted she must be to be sleeping like that on this tiny plane. “Thank you for letting other people step in and fill in the gaps for me,” I said, hoping he knew how much I meant it.

  “Sure,” he shrugged. “And… you really don’t need to worry about Lucy and Emma anymore. Their parents haven’t told them anything because they don’t really know a whole lot themselves. But it’s okay that they know.”

  “It is?” I asked, so relieved to hear that.

  “Yeah. Lucy will be a Guardian one day, if she wants to be, and Emma will be a Hunter.”

  “They both want to Transform,” I assured him, smiling to
hear the confirmation from him. “Almost as badly as I do.”

  “Patience,” he reminded me. “You’ll have a couple of hundred years to hunt Vampires if you’re patient and pay attention. Most importantly, you’ve got to learn to listen to your gut. If you’re anything like your sister, it’s going to tell you everything you need. But she’ll still be your boss, and you’re going to have to do what she says, even if you don’t want to.”

  “She’s the Leader now, then?” She must’ve forgotten to pass that information on to me.

  “She is,” Aaron confirmed. “And a very good one, just like your grandma was before her.”

  I silently wondered what that left for me, but I realized I didn’t need a title to do what I needed to do. Leadership wasn’t defined by a title; leadership was in action. “Has that made your job any easier?” I asked.

  He let out a deep breath, and I realized he wasn’t going to tell me the truth. “Yeah,” he said, but I didn’t believe him. “She just has a different way of handling things than I do.”

  I couldn’t help but choke on a chuckle. “You don’t say?” I asked. Apparently, you don’t have to watch the sky like you have to watch the road because he looked at me for such a long time that if we’d been in a car, we’d all be dead. Well, I’d be dead. They’d be fine.

  “We’re working on it,” he finally said. “It’s not her. It’s me. I like things a certain way.”

  “I never would’ve guessed that about you,” I said, trying to look all innocent. “You seem pretty laid back.”

  “All right.”

  “Like life's a beach.”

  “You’ve made your point.”

  “No worries. Be happy.”

  “Maybe I should have Hannah come pay you a visit. See if she has any phrases she’d like you to repeat,” he threatened, although he was still smiling, in a painful sort of way.

  “Okay! I was just kidding,” I assured him, and he shook his head at me. Maybe he and I could learn to be friends after all, even though I was pretty sure about the only thing we had in common was we both loved my sister, and we both wanted to kill Vampires, though I would’ve wagered I actually wanted to more badly at that exact second than even the Guardian Leader himself.