by ID Johnson
“This is really good!” she said between bites as Aaron topped off her wine. One of the perks to being non-human was that alcohol no longer had the same effects, which allowed her to enjoy more of her favorite beverages without growing a bit tipsy. “Did you make this?”
“Are you kidding?” he asked with the crooked smile that made her all tingly inside. “No, Mrs. Carminati made it.”
“Is there anything that woman can’t do?”
“She insisted. She said she wanted to thank you for helping her redecorate her workspace… or something.”
“Oh, she’s so sweet. She didn’t have to do that. I just helped her pick out a few new things, that’s all,” Cadence said, realizing her plate was almost empty already. “I didn’t eat much today,” she commented, a bit embarrassed.
“You don’t have to explain to me. I know you eat like a linebacker.”
Her eyes widened, but then she kicked him playfully under the table. “You’re so rude.”
“Do you want the rest of mine?”
“No, thank you,” she said setting her glass down. “I wouldn’t want Sean Lee jealous of my figure.”
“You know I have no idea who that is right?” Aaron asked, still smiling at her.
Cadence just shook her head. “How can I marry a man who doesn’t like football?”
“Well, there are other physical activities I do like,” he replied, reaching across the table and taking her free hand in both of his.
“You did miss me, didn’t you?” Cadence asked, feeling the heat rise in her neck.
“Why don’t we go in the bedroom, and I’ll show you how much.”
Cadence found herself caught in his eyes, and just as she was about to give in and let him carry her away, she remembered there was something very important she needed to discuss with him. It couldn’t wait any longer. “Aaron,” she said, pulling her hand back and clearing her throat, “we need to talk.”
“Ooh, that doesn’t sound good,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “What did I do this time? I know I didn’t leave the seat up.”
She couldn’t help but giggle, but she only let him distract her for a second this time before she returned to her stoic, serious countenance. “No, uhm, my grandmother mentioned something to me today that I think you probably know about, and I was just wondering why I’d never heard of it before.”
“And what would that be exactly?” he asked, suddenly as serious as she was.
“I think you probably know.”
“Cadence, there could literally be thousands of things that both your grandma and I know about that you don’t. We’ve both been around a really long time, and there’s no way we could possibly tell you everything.”
“This one is super duper important,” she replied, pushing her chair back and crossing her arms.
He leaned back in his chair as well, seeming to rack his brain, and Cadence started to think perhaps he honestly didn’t know what she was talking about, which made her even more upset. “I have no idea,” he finally said, shrugging.
“Really?” Cadence exclaimed, jumping up out of her chair. “You have no idea what secret you could possibly be keeping from me that would make me furious to find out about? Seriously?” She took off toward the living room, where the fireplace was, and the hearth—which held Elliott’s urn. “How about now,” she asked, standing in front of the fireplace and gesturing at it wildly. “Does this jar anything?”
“Cadence, calm down,” Aaron said in the same pristinely tranquil voice he used to keep the team composed on the battlefield. “If I had any idea what you were talking about, I wouldn’t be standing here staring at you like an idiot. But I really don’t know.”
Telling her to calm down generally had the opposite effect, and this time wasn’t any different. “Okay. How about this… how about, my grandmother told me that she has actually spoken to my grandpa. Recently. How about that?”
“What?”
“Yeah. Now, how could that be? Hmmm. I wonder. How could she have possibly done that?”
“You’re saying that your grandmother recently spoke to your grandfather?”
“Yep.”
“The one that died before you were born.”
“Uh huh.”
“Cadence, are you serious?”
Feeling her anger begin to bubble, Cadence had to turn away from him. She stared into the roaring fire, taking some deep breaths. Realizing that, for some reason, he honestly didn’t seem to be understanding what she was saying, she reached into her jacket pocket and took out the letter. “Read,” was all she could manage to say.
Cautiously, Aaron took the letter out of her hand. It only took him a few seconds to read the whole thing. When he reached the bottom, he muttered, “Oh, dear God.”
By then, Cadence had regained some of her composure. “Now… now do you remember?”
“Cadence, I understand why you are upset….”
“Angry.”
“Okay,” he said, folding the letter up and handing it back to her. She snatched it from his hand. “But you have to believe that I didn’t know that either one of them knew.”
“Knew… what?” she asked, baiting him.
One hand resting on the mantel near the urn, Aaron let out a deep sigh and said, “Knew about the portal.”
“Ah ha!” Cadence shouted. “So you did know!”
“Of course I knew.”
She turned around and walked away from him, but since she had reached the front door, she was forced to turn around and walk back. “So just because you didn’t think there was anyone else who could tell me about it, you thought it was okay to keep this from me?”
“No.”
“No? So there’s some other reason why you thought you should keep this from me?” she asked, just as angry at him now as she could ever remember being.
“Yes,” he replied, still as calm as ever.
“What?” Cadence exclaimed. Realizing she was still holding the precious letter and may likely accidentally tear it, she crossed the room to set it gently on the coffee table.
“Cadence, sit down,” Aaron said, coming up behind her and resting his hands on her shoulders. “Let me explain.”
She jerked away from him. “What is there to explain? Clearly, I was never meant to know this information. So why tell me now?”
“Because now that you do know, you need to understand why I didn’t tell you,” he replied, giving her some space.
She glared at him for a moment, arms crossed, lips pursed. She knew that the only way she was ever going to get an answer to her most burning question—why didn’t he want to bring Elliott back—was to let him attempt to explain, so she tossed herself backward onto the sofa. “Talk.”
It was a large wraparound sofa, so giving her ample space, Aaron sat down on the other side leaving several feet between them. “You know who Alexander Hamilton is, right?”
Cadence couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What?”
“Alexander Hamilton. You know, the guy from the Broadway musical?”
“What the hell does Hamilton have to do with the blue moon portal?” Cadence asked, about to lose her mind again.
“Everything,” Aaron replied, still serene. “He has everything to do with it.”
Cadence shook her head and leaned back against the sofa, resolved not to say a word. She had an idea of who he was, but she was never good with history, even though she enjoyed hearing about it, and she certainly hadn’t found time to go to a musical.
“In 1804, Aaron Burr accidentally shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a famous duel, right?”
“Sure.”
“Except that’s not what really happened.”
“Of course not.”
“Hamilton was a Guardian, and Burr was a Hunter. They had pursued a particularly vicious Vampire, along with a small band of similar individuals, to Weehawken, New Jersey. Burr thought he had a clean shot at the Vampire, but Hamilton got in the way. The wound was, of cou
rse, mortal, and Hamilton died.
“For obvious reasons, they couldn’t tell the public what had actually happened. The story is recorded in history as a duel where Burr killed Hamilton in cold blood. Burr never mentally recovered, and he spent years trying to find a way to bring Hamilton back.
“Eventually, his journey brought him to an ancient Guardian, in England, who told Burr about the blue moon portal. As far as we know, that’s the first anyone in recent times had even heard of the portal story. Well, Burr was desperate to bring Hamilton back, even if he couldn’t clear his name, so despite the Guardian’s warnings not to go through with it, he did.”
“And did Hamilton come back?” Cadence asked, finally feeling herself calm down a bit now that she was beginning to get a bit of an explanation.
“Yes, but what neither of them considered was the warning that the Guardian gave them along with his explanation of the legend,” Aaron continued, leaning toward her a bit.
“What warning?” Cadence asked, finally uncrossing her arms.
“When the portal opens, the Guardian is not the only one who can step through. Anything can. The second Hamilton passed through the portal, another portal opened up somewhere else in the world, likely Eastern Europe, which allowed another being to pass through.”
“Who?”
“The most infamous Vampire of all time, one that had been nearly indestructible the first time when he reigned in the fifteenth century. Now, having come back from the depths of hell, newly named and ready to unleash his fury on the world, it took us nearly a hundred years to destroy him the second time.”
It only took Cadence a second to realize what he was saying. “So… when Hamilton stepped through the portal, so did… Dracula?”
“Yes.”
“Vlad the Impaler back from hell?”
Aaron nodded.
“And you think that, if I open the portal to get Elliott back, some other monster will come out of the depths of the netherworld, and we’ll be forced to kill him or her all over again?”
“I don’t think it. I know it.”
“How do you know it?”
“Because I was there.”
Cadence was confused. “I thought you said Dracula wasn’t true.”
“No, I said the book wasn’t true. I said Stoker got most of it right, but not all of it. But, yes, Dracula was very real.”
“And you helped hunt him down?”
“Not as much as I would have liked, but yes. I was there for part of it. Along with Van Helsing and the others.”
“Van Helsing was a real guy?”
“Yes, she was real.”
Cadence couldn’t help but smile at hearing that the famous Vampire Hunter was a woman. Realizing she was still angry, she quickly brushed the smile off of her face. “You never mentioned any of that before.”
“There’s a lot I haven’t mentioned before. But Cadence, you’ve got to realize, as much as I would love to have Elliott back, it’s not a risk I’m willing to take. And he wouldn’t be either. I had no idea he knew about the portal. I’m wondering if that’s even what that letter meant.”
“What else could it possibly mean?”
“Who knows? Elliott was always saying weird clichés like that. He could have just as easily have said, ‘see you in the funny papers.’”
“But he didn’t. He wanted me to know so that, if something happened—and clearly he thought something was going to happen—I would come for him.”
It was Aaron’s turn to cross his arms, as he was clearly growing frustrated himself now. “That’s not what he meant, Cadence.”
“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out,” she said, shooting up off of the couch.
“Cadence, you cannot open that portal,” Aaron said, stepping forward and placing his hands on her shoulders. “As much as you want Elliott back, believe me, it will be a disaster. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people will die.”
“If Elliott is here and he’s indestructible, then thousands of people will be saved,” she countered, resisting the urge to jerk away from him.
Shaking his head, he said, “It won’t be an even trade, Cadence. You have no idea what you’re getting us into. Besides, have you thought about the fact that Elliott will never be able to go back?”
“I know,” she assured him, staring into his eyes. “But he’s an adult. He can make that decision for himself.”
“With you there, likely crying, telling him how much you miss him? Finding out about Brandon and what happened to Cass? That’s not fair, Cadence.”
She was angry again now, so she shook free of him. “Don’t tell me what’s not fair, Aaron! In just over a year, I’ve lost three of my best friends, watched you die, and seen my sister turn into some sort of a freaking half-Vampire monstrosity. If I have the chance to fix one of those things, then, dammit, I’m going to take it.”
“Why do you have to decide this now?” he asked taking a step toward her as she retreated across the room.
“Because the next blue moon is Wednesday,” she said her hands on her hips.
“I don’t even think that’s the right kind of blue moon,” he countered.
“Well, my grandma says it is, and since she’s opened the portal before, I guess she would know,” Cadence shot back.
“I had no idea she had done that,” Aaron said with a sigh. “All right, listen, I know there’s nothing I can say at this point to change your mind. So do me a favor and go talk to Christian. Talk to anyone you think can help you make a wise decision, but don’t tell anyone who doesn’t need to know. The last thing we need are dozens of portals opening all over the world at the same time.”
“Why Christian?” Cadence asked.
“Because he was there when Hamilton came through, and he was there when we fought Dracula, too,” Aaron explained. “I’d say go talk to Hamilton, but he’s a recluse these days. He’s so upset about the decision he made, he’s nearly lost his mind.”
“Alexander Hamilton is alive?” Cadence mumbled. Of course, he had to be if the portal story was true. “And Christian knew him?”
“I have to go meet with Jamie,” Aaron said, not bothering to answer either of her questions. “Cadence, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but it was for a good reason.”
“That’s your opinion,” she replied, sharply.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, shaking his head.
“Bye, Felicia,” she said, dropping onto the couch.
He stopped a foot from the door and looked at her for a second before shaking his head again and walking out.
Cadence sighed in frustration, unable to believe everything she’d just heard. There wasn’t a Vampire in the world that she feared or thought she couldn’t take. Not Vlad, not Dracula, not anyone. Whatever hellish fiend this portal brought through, it couldn’t possibly be so dangerous that it wouldn’t be offset by having Elliott back.
And yet, she knew she would never convince Aaron to let her do this. If she was going to open the portal, she’d have to do it without his permission—which she didn’t feel she needed—and she’d have to find a way to do it in secret.
Sitting on the sofa staring at Elliott’s urn across the room, she realized that there was absolutely no way her fiancé would ever let her get away with this. He was bound and determined to prevent her. Without stopping to think about what she was doing, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a large plastic bag with a zipper lock. She returned to the fireplace and carefully pulled the urn down off of the mantel. “What am I doing?” she asked as she opened it and carefully poured the contents into the bag. Luckily, all of Elliott fit in his new container. Zipping it closed, she carefully set him aside, and used the fireplace tools to refill the urn with ashes from the fire. She dusted it off and returned the urn to its previous spot, careful to make sure everything looked exactly as it should. If anything was off, Aaron would definitely notice.
“You’re coming with me,” she said to Elliott as she pic
ked up the bag and went to her bedroom. She found a backpack in the closet and carefully placed him inside. Upon second thought, she carried the whole thing back to the kitchen and used duct tape to make sure the bag couldn’t possibly work its way open. When she was satisfied that her friend was completely contained, she put the backpack on and said, “All right. Let’s go talk to Christian.”
Chapter Four
Christian’s lab was actually in the same building as Jamie’s—right across the hallway—so Cadence had to be particularly careful that Aaron didn’t see her coming or going. He’d definitely think it was odd that she was carrying a backpack.
She sent Christian a message on the IAC to let him know she was coming as she walked out of her apartment, so he was expecting her when she arrived just a few minutes later. Jamie’s office was the first one on the left, and before she even opened the glass door to enter, she could see that his office door was open. Luckily, she was quick and sneaky, and she managed to squeeze her way through the door without being detected. She knew there were security cameras on her, but she couldn’t imagine Aaron would suspect enough to actually go review the footage.
Christian was sitting behind one of the largest desktop computers she’d ever seen when she carefully opened the door and slid inside. They were across the hall, but not too far away, and there was no reason for either of the other two to decide to stop by and say hello.
Before Christian could say anything, she put her finger over her mouth, making a “shh!” gesture, and taking off the backpack, she sat it on the floor beneath his desk and took a seat across from him.
“Why are we being quiet?” Christian asked in a whisper.
“I just didn’t want them to know I’d come in until I ditched the backpack,” she explained.
“Who?” Christian asked, looking around the room. “Are you hearing voices in your head?’
“No, just in my eye. What are you working on?” Cadence asked, being polite. She really didn’t care and probably wouldn’t understand anyway.