by I D Johnson
Aaron looked slightly amused. “Fair enough,” he said, and Jamie slowed the car down, pulling to a stop along the side of the road. The doctor was shaking his head, like he thought this was a bad idea, but he got out of the car, and so did Elliott while Aaron scooted to the driver’s seat.
They were basically out in the middle of nowhere, and Elliott assumed they were probably close to twenty miles away from the nearest town. He wondered how long it might take him to run there, should he bolt away as soon as the Healer was done rearranging his face, but a man was only as good as his word, even if most of the words coming out of his mouth lately had been lies.
The doc was shorter than him, so Elliott crouched a little bit so he’d have a good view of what he was doing. “Now, don’t make me too handsome,” Elliott joked. “I don’t want to have to beat the ladies off with a stick like Prince Charming in there.”
Jamie snickered. “I don’t think you’ll be calling him that once you get to know him better.” He reached up and put his hands on Elliott’s face, and instantly the pain went away. The doctor tweaked his nose back into place, and then gave a satisfying nod before staggering back a few steps like he was suddenly drunk or too tired to stand.
“You okay, Doc?” he asked, not sure if he should put his arms around the guy or just leave him the hell alone.
“I’m fine. But you got shotgun.” Jamie stepped out of the way so Elliott could move and then pulled open the car door.
“Thanks, man,” Elliott said, meaning his face, and Jamie gave him the same little wave, like it wasn’t any big deal, that he’d given Aaron and then climbed into the back seat, not quite sitting but not laying down either.
Aaron wasn’t even looking at him, and once again, Elliott contemplated taking off for the hills. Something told him even if the man behind the driver’s seat didn’t have his head turned he still knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. Reluctantly, Elliott walked around and got into the passenger seat, and Aaron hit the gas pedal.
“We’re goin’ a little fast ain’t we?” Elliott asked. It was dark outside though it was more morning than night at this point, and he imagined Aaron had the same night vision as he had, which made his ability to see the curves in the road better than any human, but it still seemed like the car was going faster than it should be.
“I’ve got it,” Aaron assured him in a calm voice. “This car can go a lot faster than anything you sell at your lot.”
“Really?” Elliott asked, surprised. He remembered being in that car with Janette and Jordan as a little boy thinking the car was going faster than he was used to, but that was a long time ago. He decided to take Aaron’s word for it. “So… what am I going to be doing once we get to KC?”
“Well, we’ll give you a tour of the training facilities and the apartment building where’d you be living, if you choose to stay. You can meet the other team members and even come on a hunt with us if you want to. Technically, you would have to complete some of your training, but since you’ve had a little bit of experience in the field, I’d let you observe so long as you didn’t get involved. We have quite a fleet of cars you might be interested in seeing, as well as other vehicles. Planes, utility vehicles….”
“Motorcycles,” Jamie chimed in, his voice groggy.
Elliott chuckled. “I think I’ve seen enough of those for a while.”
“Yeah, ours are a lot nicer than anything those guys had at the club, though,” Aaron assured him. “Our campus takes up a couple of hundred acres on the outskirts of Kansas City. We have state of the art training equipment, and we require all new Hunters and Guardians to complete training before we assign them to a team. So people are flown in all the time from around the world. Most stay for a few weeks or months, and then we send them back out. Our core team is small right now, and I usually like to keep it that way, though we are always in desperate need of good Hunters.”
“You do know I’m a Guardian, right?” Elliott teased.
“Yes, but Janette said you can lie like no other, and I caught a pretty good glimpse of that tonight, so that’s really why we are hoping you’ll at least give us a fair shot. We can really use someone who can run interference. I can do it, but not as effectively as you can, and most of the time I’m too busy doing pretty much everything else.”
“Hey, I do a few things,” Jamie reminded him, still tired.
“Right. I don’t put people back together.” Aaron looked at him again in the mirror. “You okay?”
“Yeah—no big deal. Just give me a minute.”
“So… this always happen when you use your powers?” Elliott asked Jamie.
“Yep. More I use them, the more worn out I am. Took more to heal your ugly face than I imagined it would,” he snickered.
“Man, you should be nice to me. I might decide to stick around. You’re going to want me on your side.”
Chuckling, Jamie said, “Believe me, I’m not wanting for friends.”
“Everybody loves Jamie,” Aaron agreed. “He’s the most powerful Healer we’ve ever seen.”
“So there are others?”
“In the world, but he’s the only one on our KC team,” Aaron explained. “We have a tech guy, Christian, and then there’s Hannah, who used to be a psychologist, so she’s the one who keeps us calm. Her talent is a little like yours, except she regulates emotions. I, on the other hand, can sense emotions, which helps me to predict people’s actions. We have a few Hunters, but no one stellar at the moment. We haven’t found anyone to replace Janette since she stepped down as Hunter Leader, and I’m trying to do it all myself, which isn’t a whole lot of fun.”
“Janette stepped down?” Elliott asked, a little surprised to hear that.
“Yeah, after Jordan was killed, she just didn’t want to do it anymore. She still does some consulting and actually handles a lot of scheduling for me. But… it’s not the same.”
Elliott absorbed that for a while. So this guy really was in charge. Of everything. And he’d dropped it all to come after him. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and yet it had happened just the same. He let that simmer for a while as Aaron drove on in silence.
They turned onto a major highway, which was nearly abandoned at that time of night, and Elliott swiveled to see Jamie was asleep, which he thought was just as well. Elliott hadn’t slept much since he’d Transformed and had just figured that was part of it, but as much as he found himself more productive this way, he did envy those who could sleep. “Perchance to dream,” he muttered.
He didn’t mean for Aaron to hear him, but he did. “Yep. I know. Sometimes I’m jealous of Jamie’s ability to sleep, but then, he has no choice.”
Elliott nodded, hearing the same sentiment in the other Guardian’s voice. “How old are you anyhow, man? I mean, I suppose you know everything there is to know about me, don’t you?”
“I know enough,” Aaron replied, adjusting in his seat. “I was born in Killarney, Ireland, in 1829.”
“Get out of town!” Elliott exclaimed, causing Jamie to stir in the back seat. “Seriously? You’re like—”
“One hundred and fifty-six,” Aaron answered for him.
“No, shit? I wouldn’t have guessed a day over a hundred and fifty-five, tops.”
Aaron laughed. “Well, you know, I try to get to the gym at least a few times a week.”
Elliott stifled his laughter the best he could, trying not to disturb Jamie, but he found the demeanor in which Aaron delivered the remark far more humorous than the words themselves. He liked this guy already. It had been a long time since he allowed himself to make a real friend. After Reggie, that had been difficult. At least Aaron wasn’t likely to die any time soon—or at all. “What about him? How old’s the doc?”
“Jamie is one hundred and seventeen, I believe.”
“Unbelievable. You known him a long time?”
“Yeah, you could say that. Christian is the oldest member on our team, though.”
“Right. He w
as in the Revolutionary War, wasn’t he?”
“You have a good memory,” Aaron replied, likely figuring Janette or Peggy had told him that when Elliott first found out about the Ternion. “Christian’s a little different. Sometimes you just have to give him some space.”
“Great,” Elliott muttered. He had remembered there was something about the guy he didn’t like the first time he heard his name. “Well, I don’t think it matters since I’m not planning on sticking around anyhow.”
Aaron chuckled again but didn’t make another comment about it, and the car continued to eat up the road as Kansas City drew nearer and Oklahoma faded into the background.
Chapter 14
Kansas City, Missouri, 1986
Elliott was perched on the top of a ten-story office building in downtown Kansas City, and while it wasn’t the highest building around, it was perfect for him to be able to survey the parking lot and still be able to reach the ground in a hurry when he needed to. In the distance, he saw the mark approaching and used his walkie-talkie to call it in. Aaron answered that he had visuals, and Elliott settled back to watch how this went down. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to engage unless there was a problem, not until the show was over, and that’s when his part of the operation commenced. He’d spend a few minutes dealing with any onlookers and then cart out his handy Extracto 4000 to clean up the mess if need be. It was sort of like a Dustbuster, but he’d modified it to be much more efficient and a lot quieter. It still needed a few alterations, but overall, it did the job.
In the last year since he’d decided to join the LIGHTS team, he’d been involved in his fair share of Vampire hunts, and most of the time at the beginning, he was down on the ground like everyone else. But then Aaron had decided it might be better to have him in the rafters, so they’d tried that, too, and it just seemed to click. Elliott called it as he saw it, and Aaron and the rest of the team got the target. Sometimes, he’d used the modified weapons at his disposal to pick off a target or two, but for the most part, he just watched. Until the end. He was the only one capable of the final act, and that might have been one of the reasons why he loved it so much.
The team didn’t waste any time closing in on the mark, and within a few minutes of the Vampire showing himself, he was dissolved into a pile of ash at the hands of Rusty, a redheaded Hunter who appeared to be in his mid-fifties, which told Elliott he was actually closer to a hundred at least. There were a few pedestrians on the street, and Elliott took his cue to pop down from his perch, using the fire escape to make two giant leaps, and headed over in the direction of the commotion, clapping his hands loudly as he did so.
The crowd of about five women and men who appeared to be on their way to a nearby club had stopped at the sight of one man apparently ripping the head right off another. Of course, there were other team members helping to shield the situation from view, but he could tell by the whispers and shocked expressions some of them had seen part of it. His clapping not only served as a distraction, it also helped with his storyline.
“Great job, guys,” he shouted. “Next time, we’ll need to film that from another angle. I’ll get the guys down here to move these stationary cameras.” He gestured at the top of the buildings as if there were cameras nearby and then distracting the crowd from his empty motion, he drew them all in. “That looked pretty real, didn’t it? But what you actually just saw was the filming of a new television pilot.” Some of the spectators oohed and ahhed. “That’s right. You’re going to want to tune in to NBC right after The A-Team on Tuesday nights, okay?”
There was a smattering of clapping, including the team of four Elliott was working with, and the group of clubbers headed on their merry way, commenting about how cool it was to see a TV show being filmed and how it had looked so real.
Elliott pulled the Extracto from inside his long black duster and vacuumed up the mess as quickly as possible, though the fact that the nozzle clogged once made it take slightly longer. He’d need to fix that.
“Why do you do that?”
He glanced up to see Christian standing a few feet away, his hands in the pockets of his black pants, and tried not to roll his eyes. “What do you mean?” Elliott asked. A glance over his shoulder told him that Hannah, Aaron, and Rusty looked ready to go.
“Point at cameras that aren’t there. People will notice there’s nothing there.”
Elliott had been right in thinking he wouldn’t like this guy. There was just something about the tech guy that drove him nuts. Maybe it was the fact that he didn’t have much faith in the Extracto when Elliott had first mentioned it, but it was probably more his shifty eyes and the way his dirty blond hair never seemed to move. He claimed not to smoke but always smelled like an ashtray. He didn’t trust him. Not one bit. “It’s the power of suggestion, man. It worked didn’t it?”
“This time. That doesn’t mean it always will.”
Shaking his head, Elliott headed off toward the rest of the team, Christian following along. “It’s worked the last eighty-seven times. If it stops working, I’ll let you know.”
Christian made a humph sound but didn’t say anything more, and the team headed down the street to where they’d parked the passenger van. Elliott drove, like usual, and there was a little bit of chatter from Hannah and Rusty, but mostly they were quiet for the ten minutes or so it took to return to base.
Headquarters was surrounded by a massive stone wall and the gate was manned, though Elliott had a clicker that opened the wrought iron gate as he approached. The road wound back to the buildings, passed the intake building where Vampires were required to report and be tagged, the gymnasium, and a few office buildings, including the building where Jamie and Christian had offices and the tallest of the office buildings where Aaron’s office took up the top floor. Elliott had been told during his orientation that you never wanted to be called into Aaron’s office—that was bad.
They usually met in a one-story building located closer to the two apartment buildings to prepare for hunts and to debrief, so that’s where he was headed now. He pulled into a parking spot and glanced over at the closest apartment building, where the permanent residence lived. His room was on the fourth floor near Jamie’s. He didn’t know or care where anyone else’s was, except for Aaron’s, which was in the penthouse. Next to that building there was an even taller one that temporarily housed the new Guardians and Hunters when they came in to train. Elliott usually didn’t take too much interest in those people. Unless or until someone made his team, he didn’t care about them.
The meeting was pretty cut and dry. No one had acted out of line or done anything stupid, if Christian opening his mouth didn’t count, and after about twenty minutes, Aaron dismissed them, and most everyone headed out the door. Elliott liked to stick around afterward. He and Aaron had become pretty good friends in the last year, and he realized he probably wouldn’t have stayed around at all if he didn’t like the guy. Sure, he was a complete control freak who had the organizational skills of a neurotic postal employee, but he liked him nevertheless. It helped that he was practically immortal.
“Elliott, I have something I need to talk to you about,” Aaron said as Hannah, who was the last one out the door, exited the building.
For once, Elliott felt like he had a reason to lag behind, rather than to just pick Aaron’s brain, though his tone was slightly alarming. “What is it, boss man?”
Aaron cleared his voice and sat on the edge of the table near where he’d been conducting the meeting, and Elliott sauntered over, his hands in his pockets. “Janette called me a little while ago. She had some news. She thought you should know your mom, Arlene, passed away.”
Elliott was shocked. He hadn’t seen or heard from the woman in thirty-five years. “Wow,” he said, dropping down on a table across from Aaron. “I, uh, didn’t even realize she was still alive.”
“Apparently. She was living with some man in Atoka. Janette wasn’t sure what the cause was, though she got the feeling it mi
ght’ve been some sort of overdose. I know the two of you hadn’t kept in touch, but she thought you’d want to know.”
“Yeah. Okay. Thanks,” Elliott stammered, not sure what to do with that. In the last year, he’d come to grips with a lot of things. It hadn’t been easy to get over the death of his friend Reggie, certainly not his brother’s passing. He’d mourned the loss of his marriage and his children, who were grown now and still wanted nothing to do with him, and pretty much decided he had been a failure as a person, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do more now. He was still new at this game, but he felt like he’d finally found his calling. And it wasn’t just about telling stories to cover up kills either. They were making a difference. He’d been in situations where Vampires were about to harm children or innocent people, and his team had taken them out, sometimes he had been the one to end them. He’d protected Hunters, too, something he wanted to do more of. Meeting with Hannah, who had been a therapist in her former life, had been a big part of him moving on with his life and accepting that the past was just that—the past, and he still had a wide-open future in front of him.
But there were some things he wanted to do first. “I, uh, think I need to go back to Oklahoma City for a visit,” he said quietly. “I’ve got some demons to face.”
“Of course, no problem,” Aaron said with a nod. “Do you want to go alone or would you rather have some company?”
“I think I need to do it myself,” he said resolutely. “Also… I want to finish school.”
“You do?” Aaron asked, clearly surprised.
“Yeah, I know I got lots of badges in my pocket that say I’m a doctor, but I wish that was the truth.” When Aaron had asked him if he’d be willing to take on some of the roles that required higher clearances and more power, like working for the Center for Disease Control, for example, he’d agreed, so all of his badges now said, “Dr. Elliott Sanderson,” followed by whatever initials got him where he needed to be.