by ID Johnson
“Just after midnight Sunday morning, or just after midnight the third week of April?” Brandon asked. He shoved his pillows up with his shoulders and readjusted so he was sitting slightly higher.
I had to laugh. That was so something his dad would’ve said. “Sunday morning. You really weren’t out that long.”
Brandon looked surprised. “Huh. I expected to be out until at least Monday.”
“I know, right? I did, too.” I agreed. I had thought he’d be out a lot longer, too, since Cadence had reportedly been. I began to swing my crisscrossed legs back and forth, the jitters not letting me sit still. There was something about the way he was looking at me that was making me uncomfortable, but in a good way. “I’m glad you’re up, though. You missed some stuff.”
“Really?” Brandon asked, sitting up even more. “Like what?”
I thought back to everything that we’d discovered while he was out. “Well, my friends found Giovani at Heathrow getting on a plane earlier today. Aaron thinks he’s on his way to Philadelphia, so they’re checking footage for that right now.”
Brandon’s forehead wrinkled. “Why Philadelphia?”
I let out a sigh. The whole thing still made me uneasy. “They think he’s going to turn the Jogging Path Killer into a Vampire so he can take out my sister.”
“Shut up!” Brandon shot up onto his elbows. “Why would he need to do that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. The whole thing seemed so odd to me. Why didn’t Giovani think he was strong enough to do it by himself? Where had he gotten the notion that Gibbon was the answer? “I guess that’s, like, the only guy who would be powerful enough to do it.” If you can’t find a friend, make one, I decided.
“Unbelievable.” Brandon dropped back down onto his pillow, his fingers interlaced behind his head. He was quiet for a moment, thinking. “So, if they find out Giovani’s in Philly, will they go there?”
“Yeah,” I assured him. “And my sister will have to kill the Jogging Path Killer—I mean destroy him. I guess he’d be dead already. Or whatever.” The whole thing was so confusing to me. All along, I’d thought the Jogging Path Killer could already be a Vampire, and it turns out I was just ahead of my time. Now, Giovani would try to turn him, so Cadence could destroy him. How… bizarre.
Brandon continued to stare at the ceiling for a long time, and I stared at him, wondering what he was thinking. What would his dad think of this entire situation? “That sounds kind of dangerous,” he finally said quietly. I’m sure Elliott would’ve thought so, too, though that wouldn’t have stopped him from chasing Giovani and Gibbon down.
“I know,” I agreed. I tossed myself backward onto my pillow, deciding staring at Brandon could be dangerous for my mental health. I remembered what my sister had said when I’d voiced my concerns about Gibbon. “She said she’s not worried about it, that she can take anyone. Maybe she can. I don’t know.” I honestly didn’t. I knew she was good at her job, but how good? Wouldn’t Gibbon be a brute?
He leaned up on one elbow, and I turned my head to meet his eyes. A reassuring smile on his face, he said, “Hey, Cass, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
I realized I’d been chewing on the inside of my mouth and he could probably tell how nervous I was about the idea of my sister facing off against Gibbon. With a deep breath, I shifted to face at him more directly, propping my head up on my hand. Brandon’s eyes were almost as wide as mine, and I wondered if he could possibly be thinking the same thing I was. Offering him a small smile, I finally said, “I guess so. I just wish we could go with them.” While I definitely wanted to go myself, having Brandon there would make it even more of an adventure, and I wouldn’t be the only newbie likely to screw up.
“You and me both,” he agreed, giving me a nod before he lay back down. “Maybe they will at least let us go to the planning meeting, you know? Get us some experience that way.”
Thoughts of sitting around a conference table with all of the experienced members of the team seemed pretty thrilling, though I wanted more. I needed to find a way to convince Cadence to actually let me go with her, to make her see I could be of value, like I already had been. “That would be good, but not the same as going on the hunt. I really want to be part of bringing Giovani down.” Even saying his name made my stomach tighten.
“Why is that again?” Brandon asked. He was peering at me again through the darkness.
I leaned over closer to him, not sure what he already knew. “He made my sister kill Jack.” My mind returned to what Elliott had told me about that night, when Giovani had ambushed the team, shooting my sister in the leg. That had started all of this mess with Laura, but it had also ended a life. “I loved Jack. If it weren’t for Giovani, Jack would still be here. He’d be a Vampire, but at least he wouldn’t be dead. I’d rather have a Vampire Jack than no Jack at all.” As awful as it sounded, I was sure that was the case. Maybe he would be the same person on the inside, maybe not, but it would be one less dead person in my life.
“Right,” Brandon remarked, turning his attention back to the ceiling. After a few moments of silence, he said, “Remind me who Jack is again.”
“Oh, good grief!” I pulled the pillow out from under my head and playfully swatted him with it. I thought he at least knew that much. I was a little shocked he let me get away with that, considering he could’ve torn the pillow away from me, but he had his eyebrows raised as I shoved it back under my head. “He was my sister’s ex-boyfriend.”
“That’s right,” Brandon replied. He was studying my face again, which made me uncomfortable, so I lay back down, finding familiarity in the ceiling again. “Well, I don’t think we should ask to go right now. Let’s just focus on getting into the meeting, okay?”
His plan made sense, and I agreed we’d need to take this one step at a time. Prove we could be loyal soldiers at the meeting, then talk her into letting us go to Philly “All right.” I could no longer fight the yawn that enveloped me, and I covered my mouth with my hand. After it passed, I thought of something else he’d missed out on. “They said Christian isn’t due back until Monday, so you won’t be able to get your IAC until then.”
“I figured I’d have to wait on him,” Brandon nodded. He was quiet for a moment again, and I imagined he was wondering what it would be like to have a computer chip embedded into his eye. It really didn’t sound fun. “You met him?”
It took me a second to realize he was talking about Christian since he had been so quiet for so long. “Yes,” I replied. I’d met him at Jack’s funeral but the first time I’d been around him much was here. “At… the last time I was here.”
“At my dad’s funeral?”
“Yes.” The word stuck in my throat. His dad had had a funeral. I was at it.
“It’s okay. I know he died. And I know there was a funeral.” He sounded a lot calmer about it than I felt, and for good reason. He hadn’t been here.
“I know. I just didn’t want to say anything that might upset you.” Or me. I didn’t want to say anything that would upset me. I began to yawn again when he said something his dad would say and it turned into a giggle in my throat.
“In my delicate condition?”
Once I’d regained my composure, a solemness settled on me again. “Sorry. I’ve had a lot of people die lately, and people never know what to say to me either.” I hoped he understood what I was trying to say in my exhausted state.
“Well, that sucks,” he muttered. I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing. He was right. It absolutely sucked. Big time. A few moments later, he asked, “What kind of a guy is he? Christian—I mean.”
I didn’t know how to answer that. I imagined if some dude I’d never met was going to be chopping around on my eyeball, I’d like to know that, too, and I wouldn’t want to hear he was creepy. So, I went a different route. “I don’t know. He’s weird,” I finally admitted. “I mean—I think he’s really good at his job, just seems kind of… out of place, maybe?” He
would definitely be fine with the operation, but Brandon might think he was a weirdo, too.
He was mulling that over, I was sure of it. Satisfied with at least part of my response, he said, “I guess I’m glad he’s good at his job, at least.”
“Yeah, he does all of the IACs, so he’s good at it.” Another yawn took over, and I readjusted my pillow. It had been a very long day, and I was not going to be able to stay awake much longer, no matter how much I wanted to stay up and talk to Brandon.
“You seem pretty tired.”
My eyes flickered open to see he was also on his side now, and even though the bars to the bed were between us, I could look straight into his eyes. He looked concerned, protective, like he felt the same way about me as I did him, like we’d known each other for more than a day. “I am,” I said quietly. He continued to stare at me, and in a moment of uncomfortableness, I muttered, “I guess I’m more of a morning person.”
He chuckled quietly. “That might need to change.”
That had me smiling, but I was too sleepy to laugh. “I guess so,” I admitted as my eyelids closed. As much as I tried to open them again, they refused.
Brandon’s voice cut through the darkness. Gentle and soothing. “I’m really surprised your sister let you stay in here with me.”
I thought it was a question at first, though I wasn’t exactly sure. Without opening my eyes, I tried to explain. “She didn’t want to, but I’d told you I’d be here when you woke up. So, Aaron said I could stay.”
“I always liked that guy,” Brandon mumbled.
That had my eye popping open for a split second before they shut on their own again. “I didn’t, but I guess he’s not so bad.” He and I had our own set of secrets now, and it turned out he really had been on my side about a few things he didn’t have to be. Maybe there was more to the break up story I needed to hear from his perspective. Maybe I had been wrong about him all along. Maybe I was exhausted and nothing really mattered right now.
“He loves your sister. That’s for sure. He won’t let anything happen to her.”
“I hope you’re right,” I whispered. I knew that was an attempt to make me less worried about Gibbon tearing my sister’s arms off and beating her to death with them. I had to raise the white flag. There was no way I was going to be able to stay awake a moment later. I hoped my dreams wouldn’t contain any Vampires, though I wouldn’t mind so much if they contained a Guardian or two. One in particular. “Good night, Brandon. See you in the morning.”
“Good night, Cassidy.” His words were soft, almost as soft as the gentle touch of his fingertips as he reached over and brushed a few loose strands of hair away from my face. I wasn’t sure if I was smiling on the outside or not, but my heart was happy, and for the first time in a while, I felt completely safe, as if my Guardian protector was back where he belonged.
Chapter 14
The sounds of whispering woke me, and when I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see light pouring in the windows. It seemed like I’d only been asleep for a couple of minutes. I rubbed my eyes and stretched, only vaguely remembering where I should be.
“Oh, no,” Brandon said loudly enough to let me know he was no longer worried he’d wake me. “We’ve awoken the sleeping princess.”
“Just as well,” I heard another familiar voice say as I turned over to see what was going on. I knew before I looked at him that it was Jamie. “We have a meeting in a little while, so….”
“We do?” I asked, sitting up, hopeful. “You managed to talk them in to letting us go?” I smiled at Brandon, not even thinking of what I might look like.
“What?” Jamie asked, looking from Brandon to me and then back again.
“Uh, not yet,” Brandon said in a voice that let me know I may have blown his plan. “But I was about to mention it.”
“What’s going on?” the doctor asked, putting his hands on his hips. He was standing close to Brandon’s bed, his stethoscope around his neck, and I could only assume he’d been checking the new Guardian’s vitals. Jamie was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blue polo shirt. For some reason, it still seemed odd to me to see any of them not wearing all black leather, though by now, I’d definitely seen them in street clothes much more frequently than their hunting garb.
“Well,” Brandon began, “I understand that I haven’t completed my training, so there’s no way they’ll take me to Philadelphia, assuming that’s where everyone is going. But… we just thought it might be good experience to sit in on the planning meeting so we can get an idea of how it goes down.”
“For both of us,” I emphasized, sitting up and brushing my hair down with my fingers, like that was going to help.
“Right, both of us,” Brandon nodded. I knew he’d said “we” but I wanted to make sure Jamie knew it wouldn’t be cool if they let Brandon go and not me.
“Are you asking me to stick my neck out for you again, Cass?” he asked. “I went out of my way to get you access to those cameras the other night.”
I wrinkled my brow at him. “Cadence said we could have that access.”
“That’s not what she told Christian, actually.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. My point is, I’m not sure I can get this done.”
I wondered what he was talking about but could only assume Cadence had told us one thing and planned on blaming Christian for not being able to get us access to the external cameras, but Jamie had talked him into it. “Listen, don’t ask Cadence,” I said, scooting to the edge of my bed. “Ask Aaron. He’ll say yes.” I knew he would, for some reason. Jamie was right to think Cadence would say no, though. It was beginning to be her favorite word.
“You want me to ask Aaron?” Jamie had his arms crossed and was staring at me like I was nuts.
“Yeah, just tell him you think it would be a good training experience for us…”
“Like I said,” Brandon added.
Jamie let out a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Great.” We both stared at him, like we meant right now, and he rolled his eyes. His expression shifted, and we could both tell he was talking to Aaron over the IAC.
About a minute later, he said, “So long as neither of you make a peep the entire time… he has agreed.”
I couldn’t control my excitement. “Yes!” I exclaimed.
“So long as you are quiet!” Jamie reminded us.
I jumped off of the bed and ran around Brandon’s, wrapping my arms around Jamie, who opened his in time, but still took a few steps backward. “I knew you were the right one!” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” he asked, lightly wrapping his arms around me.
“Nothing,” I said, wishing I knew how to keep my mouth shut. I let go of him and turned to look at Brandon who had one eyebrow raised.
“We should go get changed,” I suggested.
“And showered,” Brandon nodded, and I wondered if he thought I smelled bad. I looked at him intently for a moment, and he said, “Me. I need a shower.”
I nodded but didn’t know if I believed him. I crossed back over to my bed and slipped on my shoes and shoved my phone in my pocket. “Should I make the bed?”
“No, it’s fine,” Jamie said. When I turned back around, he had Brandon’s chart in his hands and was making some notes. I headed over to the chair where I’d left my jacket the night before and slipped it on, grabbing Brandon’s to hand to him. Jamie continued. “You are fine, as well, Brandon. You’re free to go. Do you remember where your temporary room is?” he asked, and I wondered when they’d even discussed that, but I thought maybe Brandon had been there longer yesterday than Cadence and I knew about, and also it was none of my business.
“Yeah, I remember,” he nodded, putting his shoes on and then his jacket.
“Okay. I’ll meet you guys in the lobby in our building,” he gestured at himself and me, “in half an hour. Cass, your sister will probably be gone by the time you get to her ap
artment, so I’ll make sure the door is unlocked for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, wondering where Cadence would be but once again thinking it was none of my business.
“See you in a bit.” Jamie turned and left the room, and I stared at Brandon for a second, still smiling about getting to attend the meeting.
“Well, we better hurry if we’re going to meet Jamie on time,” he said, slowly walking toward the door.
“Right,” I agreed, as he held it open for me. We walked down the hallway together in silence, and he opened the other door for me, too.
The air was chilly outside, and once again, I wished I’d brought a coat. “So… I’m in the other building, the one across the street, for now. They’re… they’re going to give me Elliott’s apartment, once they’re done with a few things.”
I wondered if all of his stuff was still in there, if they hadn’t yet touched it. I couldn’t imagine it had been sitting the way he’d left it for months. It seems like Aaron wouldn’t like that, but then, it was possible. “That’s… cool.” I wondered what it looked like, but I didn’t want to walk into it and see all of Elliott’s stuff, smell him, miss him even more. I was twisting the ring on my finger without even thinking about it.
“Where’d you get that?” Brandon asked as we crossed the street.
“Oh, from your… from Elliott.”
He nodded. “It’s pretty.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
The other building was across the street from this one. It wasn’t as tall, but it was wider. I hadn’t been in there but my understanding was that was where people who came here to train lived until they were sent back out to other teams. Brandon didn’t belong there. Without a doubt, he’d be a member of the KC team.
“Do you want me to walk you up?” he asked as we reached the door to my building.
“Oh, no, that’s okay. You better hurry or you won’t have time.”
“Right. Okay. See you in a bit.” Brandon gave me a sort-of smile and then headed across the street. I took a few steps toward my building when I heard him call me. “Cass?” I turned to look at him. “Thanks for staying with me. It was nice to see you… when I woke up. To know I wasn’t alone.”