Absolution: The Clandestine Saga Book 4

by ID Johnson

  Chapter Nine

  Meagan, Shane, and Aurora were working out on the cardio equipment as Aaron and Cadence entered the building to show Brandon and Cassidy around. They all promptly stopped what they were doing, recognizing Cassidy but awestruck at seeing Brandon in person for the first time.

  “Oh, wow,” Aurora said as she walked over, drying her forehead off with a hand towel. “You’ve got to be Brandon. We’ve heard so much about you.” She offered him her hand, which he shook. “I’m Aurora.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” he said smiling sheepishly.

  “Hey Cassidy!” Aurora said, hugging her loosely. “I’m all sweaty, but it’s nice to see you!”

  “You, too,” Cassidy agreed.

  “Brandon, this is Meagan, and this is Shane,” Cadence said as they offered their hands as well.

  “Shane will likely be doing most of your training,” Aaron explained.

  “Hey, man. How’s it going?” Shane asked as he squeezed Brandon’s hand a little too much. “Are you going through the Transformation process then?”

  Brandon shook his hand out a bit before answering. “Uh, yeah. Tonight, actually.”

  “That’s cool!” Meagan exclaimed. “It will be great to have you on the team.”

  “It’s great to be here,” he replied, though he didn’t sound quite as enthusiastic as one might expect.

  Meagan also hugged Cassidy and asked how she was doing while Shane waved at her and asked her what was up. Cassidy’s expression was testimony that she was still jealous of Brandon’s situation, but she forced a smile and a quiet greeting.

  “So, this is one of the workout rooms,” Cadence explained, gesturing at the various machines. “There are a couple of other rooms, but they are much smaller.”

  “It’s pretty nice,” Brandon commented as he and Cassidy began to look around.

  “Are you not going tonight?” Aurora asked Cadence, poking her in the arm.

  Cadence sighed. “No, I’m going to stay here. I want to spend some time with my sister before she has to go back home. But you guys will be just fine without me. He’s just a baby.”

  “What?” Meagan asked, a confused expression on her face.

  “Not literally,” Cadence clarified. Meagan could be such a ditz. “It’s just a few weeks past his Resurrection.”

  “Oh, right,” Meagan laughed. “It would be hard to kill a baby.”

  Cadence glanced at Aaron, but if the statement bothered him, he didn’t show it. “Right. So I’ll leave it to you to coordinate.”

  “Me?” Aurora asked. “You think I can do that?”

  “Sure,” Cadence offered shrugging her shoulders. “Aaron is planning on being there. You just need to make sure the Hunters are in position.”

  Aurora seemed to consider the arrangement before finally saying, “Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

  “Some people’s first times take a lot longer to come around than other people’s,” Cassidy muttered beneath her breath as she absently moved an arm on an elliptical machine back and forth.

  “What was that?” Brandon asked from her side. He was the only one close enough to even know she had spoken.

  “Nothing,” Cassidy shrugged. “I’m just pouting again, that’s all.”

  He smiled. “Don’t worry. It’ll happen sooner than you think.”

  “I guess,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at her sister and her friends. “I guess the grown ups are talking now.”

  Brandon smiled. “I’m a grown up, too, you know? I just left home, starting a new job. I’m an independent man.”

  Cassidy chuckled. “I don’t know about that. What did your mom say when you told her what you were doing?”

  His disposition shifted. After a moment, he said quietly, “I didn’t tell her.”

  “Seriously?” Cassidy asked. “She doesn’t know?”

  “Nah,” Brandon shrugged. “I’ll tell her later.”

  “You guys want to go see the pool?” Cadence shouted at them from across the room.

  Without answering, they both started walking in their general direction. Meagan, Shane, and Aurora crossed back to their machines with calls of “see you later” and “have a nice tour.”

  Cassidy lagged behind, causing Brandon to slow down as well, keeping Cadence and Aaron out of range of their conversation. “Is that why you’re in such a hurry to get this done right now? ‘Cause you’re afraid your mom will find out and stop you?”

  Brandon took the door from Cadence and held it open for Cassidy as they walked into the pool area. Cadence was talking about how popular this amenity was, though there were only two other people there at the moment, and Brandon took the opportunity to ignore Cassidy’s question--for now.

  Cadence waved at Paxton and Smith, who were doing laps but stopped as they saw the party approaching. “That’s Paxton with the mohawk, and the other one is Smith,” she said through barred teeth, still smiling.

  “Are those their first names or their last names?” Brandon asked, also waving politely.

  “I don’t know,” Cadence admitted.

  Aaron was clearly fighting back a chuckle at Cadence’s expense. “Their last names,” he clarified. “But that’s what everyone calls them because they’re both named Trent.”

  “Oh, good to know,” Brandon nodded.

  “Is it heated?” Cassidy asked, eyeing the water.

  “It is,” Cadence agreed, ignoring her fiancé, though she was tempted to punch him for laughing at her. “And there’s a hot tub in there. Want to see?”

  “Sure,” Brandon said, answering for both of them. They all waved goodbye at the swimmers and continued on their tour.

  Cassidy lagged behind again, and while Brandon attempted to keep up the steady pace at first, eventually he slowed to keep her company. “Well?” she asked.

  “Well, what?” Brandon asked as if he had no idea to what she was referring.

  “Your mom,” Cassidy reminded him. “She doesn’t know? Does she even know where you’re at?”

  Brandon stopped and turned to face her, his back to Aaron and Cadence. “You know, Cassidy, sometimes you just have to take your life into your own hands. I’m an adult now. It’s time for me to make my own decisions, think my own thoughts, do my own thing.” He shrugged as if what he said was not profound, spun around, and caught up to his escorts, who were looking at them both with questioning expressions.

  Cassidy considered his comments carefully for a moment before hurrying to catch up. Once she reached her sister, Cadence stepped back to join her, letting the guys lead the way to the gym, the next stop on the tour. “Everything okay?” Cadence asked quietly.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” Cassidy replied, not sure if Cadence knew Brandon’s mom had no idea where he was and not wanting to give away his secret. “I’m fine.”

  “Okay,” Cadence said, really not sure if it was. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Brandon going on the hunt last night. I just knew you’d be upset, and I didn’t think I could explain our reasoning well enough for you to understand why we let him go.”

  “I don’t understand,” Cassidy admitted. “But I guess I just have to be more patient. My time will come.”

  “There you go!” Cadence agreed, smiling, and putting her arm around her sister’s shoulders. “That’s my sweet girl. Don’t worry. You’re turn will be here before you know it, and then you’ll be wishing for a simpler time.”

  “If you say so,” Cassidy mumbled.

  “Now that’s a climbing wall!” Brandon exclaimed as they approached the far end of the gymnasium.

  “It’s a pretty difficult climb,” Aaron agreed. “And that is called The Hill,” he continued, pointing out the other impressive obstacle.

  “Whoa! I wish we’d had that at football practice. That thing is steep,” Brandon marveled. “You just run up it?”

  “Care to demonstrate, Cadence?” Aaron asked.

  Cadence looked at The Hill, an
obstacle she usually enjoyed tackling, but she realized that her stomach was doing flip-flops, and she wasn’t sure why. “Uh, sure. Give me a second,” she said, placing her hand on her stomach in an attempt to calm herself down.

  “Everything okay?” Aaron asked, a look of concern on his handsome face.

  Cadence took a few deep breaths. “Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t know. My stomach just feels funny. Kind of like I feel whenever there’s a Vampire around.”

  “That’s strange,” Aaron replied, crossing over to her and putting his hand on her shoulder. “I wonder what would be causing that.”

  “Don’t you have Vampires here?” Cassidy questioned. “The ones that need tagged?”

  “We do,” Cadence nodded, still rubbing her stomach, “but those don’t usually bother me. They’re facility is on the other side of campus.”

  “Maybe you’re pregnant,” Brandon offered, his arms crossed against his chest.

  Cadence shot him dagger eyes. “I’m not pregnant.”

  “You never know,” Brandon continued, a smirk on his face.

  “I do know! And stop talking about that in front of my little sister!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry!” Brandon remarked, feigning an apology. “I didn’t realize high school sophomores didn’t know about s-e-x.”

  Cassidy giggled, and Cadence looked at Aaron to see if he was going to say anything, but she could tell by his expression he had decided to stay out of this one, at least for now. “Look, Brandon, for your information, there’s no way I could be pregnant, okay?”

  “I seriously doubt that is true….”

  “Hey!” Aaron finally interjected, “Don’t be getting too personal now, kid.”

  “I’m just saying things fail sometimes….”

  “I am not pregnant, you moron,” Cadence stated emphatically. “Now, why don’t you race me up this hill and show Cass what a loser you are?”

  “No way,” Brandon shot back. “I saw you throw yourself through a glass window and rip the head off of a monster. I ain’t racing you up no hill. I’ve got a reputation to protect.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about your reputation with me,” Cassidy spoke up. “I already think you’re a loser.”

  She smiled at him politely and batted her eyelashes, causing everyone to laugh, though Brandon did it with an offended look on his face. “Hardy har har,” he said shoving her playfully.

  “What did you say?” Cadence asked, shocked.

  “Oh, it’s just an old saying I picked up off of The Three Stooges or something,” Brandon shrugged.

  “Your dad used to say that,” Cadence explained. “How bizarre.”

  “Are you feeling better?” Aaron asked, quickly changing the subject.

  “Good enough to beat you up The Hill,” she teased.

  “You may have broken my record once,” he replied, “but that was… before. I’m pretty sure I can beat you now.”

  “Well, I won’t go down easily,” Cadence said as she got herself into position.

  “If you lose, you can just blame the baby,” Brandon called after her.

  Cadence’s only response was to glare at him for a moment. Aaron got into position beside her, and though neither of them were dressed to work out, he counted to three and they took off up The Hill.

  Despite the fact that Cadence had shattered his record not that long ago, it wasn’t even close this time. She wasn’t even quite at the top by the time he was standing at the bottom waiting for her.

  “How did you do that?” Cassidy exclaimed. Brandon echoed her sentiment with his own statement of disbelief.

  “I told you I was faster now,” Aaron said shrugging as Cadence came to a stop next to him, breathing heavily.

  “That’s crazy. I think you did that in four seconds without jumping. You’re just a blur now,” she managed to get out as she was catching her breath.

  “Am I going to be that fast after I Transform?” Brandon asked, still in awe.

  “No!” Cadence and Aaron answered simultaneously, drawing a wide-eyed look from both Cassidy and Brandon

  “There’s a reason I’m so much faster than everyone else,” Aaron began, “but we’re not going to go into that right now. I’ll explain it to you in due time. That’s basically the entire facility. Do either of you have any questions?”

  “Yeah, when do I get to meet Sam?” Brandon asked, his hands on his hips.

  Aaron and Cadence exchanged a nervous glance. “Don’t you think you should wait until you Transform for that?” Cadence asked.

  “I want to meet him, too,” Cassidy chimed in.

  “No way,” Cadence replied, shaking her head. “That’s way too dangerous.”

  “What?” Cassidy shrieked. “He was in an airplane crash. He’s basically a pile of mush. What could he possibly do to me?”

  “You don’t know him, Cass. You don’t have any idea what kind of evil we’re talking about here.”

  “It’s not fair that Brandon gets to meet him and I don’t. I knew his dad a lot better than he did--he never even met him!” Cassidy exclaimed.

  One look at Brandon’s face made Cassidy stop talking. She had clearly said enough to upset him. After a moment of silence, she said, “I’m sorry. That was rude.”

  “It’s okay,” he shrugged. “You’re right. I never got a chance to meet him. I’m glad you did though. You can tell me stories about him. All three of you can. I just wanted to see Sam before I Transform, to say that I faced him as a man, that’s all. He’s a big part of my motivation to be here, after all. It might make it a little easier if the Transformation gets painful, like you were saying, Cadence.”

  Cadence sighed, still absently massaging her stomach. “What do you think?”

  “I think we should let them go in. We’ll be in there with them, too. Sam’s so out of it, he probably won’t even say anything,” Aaron replied.

  “It’s Sam. What if he says something vulgar or disgusting?” Cadence countered.

  “Then we unplug his oxygen machine for a few minutes.” She could tell by his expression that he was joking. “I haven’t heard him say two words in the last few days. We’ll keep Cassidy back out of his line of vision, and maybe he’ll leave her alone.”

  “Fine,” Cadence finally said aloud. “But you have to follow our directions completely. You have to stay back away from him. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Brandon agreed, and Cassidy nodded.

  “All right, let’s go before Jamie calls us to let us know he’s ready. I still think this is a bad idea….”

  Cadence and Aaron led the way, holding hands and walking a good bit in front of the younger two, who seemed to be purposely straggling. As soon as they walked outside, Cadence’s stomach flipped over again, but she tried to ignore it, not sure what could possibly be making her feel as if a Vampire were nearby. There was no way a Vampire could be in their facilities undetected, and the ones that were there had never had her knotted up like this before. She didn’t want to alarm anyone, or be the butt of any more jokes--she was certain she was not pregnant. This felt exactly like a powerful Vampire, but she had no explanation for where it might be coming from.

  “You okay?” Aaron asked, looking at her with that concerned look again.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just worried about Cassidy,” Cadence offered, which was true, although that’s not what her current unpleasant expression was really about.

  “She’ll be fine,” he assured her.

  “I know. It’s just… if anything ever happened to her. I mean, is this how it’s going to be on the hunts? Me always distracted, worried about her getting hurt?” Cadence asked.

  “Possibly,” Aaron admitted. “I was pretty worried about you when you went on your observation hunt. Luckily, that was unfounded and nothing out of the ordinary occurred,” he joked.

  “God, if Cass ever did what I did--went off after a Vampire by herself--I’d lose it,” Cadence admitted.

  “Welcome to my world,” Aaron
replied.

  They crossed one of the streets that ran between the buildings, and Cadence couldn’t help but look around a little bit, as if she thought a Vampire might leap out at them. But she saw nothing out of the ordinary, so she continued the conversation. “I guess I never really thought about what it must be like to have someone you love in harm’s way every night until Cass and Brandon started talking about actually Transforming.”

  “Thanks,” Aaron snickered.

  “Oh, you know what I mean. I don’t worry about you. I mean, I do. But I don’t. Not like I would them. I know you can take care of yourself--short of some crazy renegade Hunter. And I know how to spot them now. I think. Anyway, she’s my baby sister, and he’s like a little brother. I just worry about them getting hurt.”

  “I understand,” Aaron agreed, squeezing her hand. “We’ll just have to train them the best we can and do our best to keep them safe.”

  Cadence nodded, hoping that would be sufficient. Her sister had always been so compliant, but lately, she seemed to be voicing her own opinion more, trying to be more of an adult than she really was. She was sixteen now, but she hadn’t even gotten her driver’s license yet, and Cadence couldn’t help but think of her as a child. When it came to Vampire hunting, she knew Cassidy would probably end up being very good at it--eventually. But she wasn’t ready to find out right now. She was afraid her sister was getting into something she just didn’t understand. “I guess it’s not likely she’d be willing to settle for a desk job.”

  “Uh, no. She is your sister after all.”