Elliott

by I D Johnson

  With a sigh, she dropped onto the edge of the bed, one Doc Martin in her hand. “You’re not going to tell me you’re married are you?” she asked, her voice borderline anxious.

  “No, no not at all,” he laughed. “It’s not that.”

  “Then, what is it?”

  He took a deep breath and tried to figure out the best words to tell her. “All right, so what I do isn’t exactly what I said it was. I mean, it is still security, but not your run of the mill security.”

  “Are you in the FBI or something?” she asked, turning slightly so she could better face him.

  “No, not exactly. What I’m about to tell you is top secret, though. You can’t tell anyone, okay?”

  “Okay.” The word came out slowly, as if she wasn’t exactly sure what he might say next.

  “I do work in security, but my job is to protect Vampire Hunters. From Vampires.”

  Amanda stared at him for a moment, her eyes unmoving, saying nothing.

  “I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. And I have plenty of evidence I can show you to convince you it’s the truth. I’m… not really a human. I’m… a Guardian. We hunt Vampires and destroy them before they harm humans.” She continued to stare, saying nothing until Elliott became a little concerned. “Amanda? Are you okay?”

  “Are you shitting me?” she finally asked. “You’re… not human?” Her countenance changed, and Elliott was confused. Of all the things he’d said, he didn’t understand why that was the one that had caught her attention.

  “Well, I’m mostly like a human.”

  Amanda turned away from him, mumbling under her breath. She finished pulling on her boots and stood, turning to face him. “Look, Elliott… You’re a nice guy and all. But… I’m trying to become a doctor, you know? And… I just… I don’t have time for this.”

  “No, Amanda, you don’t understand. You don’t need to make any time for anything. Look, if you don’t like what I do, that’s fine. I’ll do something else. Hell, I’ll walk away from it right now.”

  “Yeah, but that won’t change what you are.”

  He had no response for that. The one thing he had learned in the last forty-nine years was that he couldn’t change who he was.

  “You said you love me, right?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

  “I do.” That was one thing he was sure of, even though he suddenly had the feeling it wasn’t reciprocated after all.

  “Then forget this ever happened. Forget you ever knew me. Forget Amanda Keen even exists, okay?”

  “But… Amanda….”

  She shook her head one last time, and then without looking back, Amanda Keen turned and walked out the door.

  Dumbfounded, Elliott stared after her having no idea what to say or what to do. For the first time in a long time, he began to cry, and this time, he let the tears flow freely. Amanda Keen was worth crying over.

  Chapter 16

  Des Moines, Iowa, 1998

  Janette lived in a stately Queen Anne in a lovely part of town, and when Elliott pulled his motorcycle to a stop in her driveway, he couldn’t help but feel that this house seemed to suit her. Older but well maintained, proud, lovely, strong. Those words fit her in every way possible.

  He made his way to the porch, but she had the door open before he even knocked. “Elliott! So nice to see you!” she said, embracing him before he crossed the threshold. “Come on in, won’t you?”

  The décor fit the exterior of the house, lots of antiques and period pieces. He noticed some expensive pieces of artwork on the walls as well. It smelled like apple cider, which went well with the autumn season, and he imagined this was a cozy place to visit most times of the year.

  “I don’t want to keep you long, dear, but I wanted to chat with you in person. Would you like anything to drink or eat? I have chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven.”

  “That sounds amazing,” Elliott replied. Most Guardians didn’t eat much. He could count on one hand the amount of times he’d seen Aaron consume anything in the last thirteen years. Elliott was different. He’d never lost his love of food, especially not baked goods.

  “Why don’t you have a seat on the sofa, and I’ll be right back.” She smiled at him and headed off for the kitchen, and he settled into the velvety green couch.

  “Here you go, dear,” she said placing a platter of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of cold milk on the coffee table. “Milk okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He sunk his teeth into a bite of chocolatey goodness and had packed away three large cookies before he even realized he was wolfing them down. “You not gonna have any?”

  She laughed. “No, those are for you.”

  He couldn’t help but notice how different she looked now than she had the first time he saw her. Since Jamie had given her the re-Transformation serum, changing her back into a human, she had begun to age again at a regular pace. He didn’t quite understand why she’d chosen that path, but then, she had lost the love of her life, and maybe she wanted to get back to him as quickly as possible. That was something he might’ve been able to relate to if he’d spent more than one night with the woman who had stolen his heart. He tried not to think about Amanda now, though, as he did most every day, and he returned his attention to Janette.

  “What is it you wanted to see me about?”

  “Well, darling, I have a favor to ask you.” She smiled at him, looking up through her thick glasses, and Elliott assumed whatever it was, it was going to be a doozy. “A few months ago, I met with Aaron. We had a lot to talk about, but most importantly, I wanted to check in with him on that special assignment I’d given him a few years back. You know the one, don’t you?”

  Elliott raised an eyebrow, suddenly figuring out where this was going. He knew the assignment well, and he remembered being thankful he wasn’t the one asked to perform it. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Janette nodded. “I think things are going well. I’m certainly not worried about him fulfilling the duties I’ve asked him to perform. But, you see, there’s another matter at hand now, one that is of equal importance. So… while he was here, I asked his opinion about who should be the one to fulfill this new special assignment. Sure, a few names had already come to my mind, yours among them, but when he said he thought you were the man for the job, well, I had to agree.”

  Elliott wiped his hand on the napkin Janette had brought out with the platter of cookies, no longer hungry. “Janette, listen, I know how important this assignment is to you, and I’m flattered that either one of you would consider me the man for the job, but I honestly think I’m the last person you should consider.”

  “Oh, hogwash!” she proclaimed. “Don’t you start telling me you can’t do it, Elliott. Of course you can. It’s not that time consuming. I only ask that you check in on her every few months, make sure that the local team is doing everything they can to protect my family, and then show up when important life events transpire. That’s all.”

  “Janette, you’re asking me to be a Guardian for your granddaughter—your infant granddaughter. You’re talking to one of the worst parents in the universe. My kids hate me. How in the world do you expect me to keep a baby safe?”

  “Your kids only hate you because that Nancy poisoned their minds against you, Elliott. And you most certainly are not the worst parent in the world. You don’t think I saw how you took care of your brother Jimmy?”

  “Yeah, and look what happened to him!” It had been decades since Jimmy’s death, and he still couldn’t think about his kid brother without feeling like someone had punched him in the gut.

  “That wasn’t your fault, Elliott.” She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can’t save everyone.”

  “True, but, I don’t think I’m the one to ask to save anyone, no one important anyway.”

  “You save people every day. You protect Guardians. You keep Vampires away from people so that they never even know the danger they�
��re in.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

  “It is a good thing. Can you imagine this world if people were just walking around, knowing exactly what’s out there? It would be pandemonium. Elliott, Aaron could’ve picked any Guardian in the world for this assignment, any of the thousands, and he picked you. And it’s not because you’re his best friend, either. It’s because he knows you’re the man for the job. And so do I. So… what do you say? Will you keep my granddaughter safe?”

  Elliott stared at the woman for a long time, seeing the sincerity in her eyes. For some reason, she truly did believe he was capable of protecting this precious child. And even if he wasn’t a good parent, he was good at protecting people. With a sigh, he said, “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  She smiled and clapped her hands together. “I’m so excited to hear that. I know my grandbaby couldn’t be in better hands.” She reached over and hugged him, and Elliott enjoyed the motherly feel of it until she pulled away, and he returned his attention to the cookies.

  Four more disappeared while he listened to Janette talk about how amazing both of her granddaughters were, and Elliott pretended to be impressed, even though he wasn’t sure anything she described couldn’t be ascribed to any four-year-old or infant by a doting grandmother. When she paused to take a breath, he realized he hadn’t asked an important question.

  “What’s her name, anyhow? The baby?”

  “Oh, it’s a beautiful name. I just love it. Her name is Cassidy Elizabeth Findley. Isn’t that the cutest thing?”

  “Cassidy?” He repeated. Sounded like a decent name to him. He ate another cookie, wondering if Cassidy would ever even know he existed.

  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?”