The happy vibes from earlier today were dissipating. My heart ached for my sister. I felt embarrassed and ashamed for ever thinking she might’ve been responsible for Drew’s death. My sister loved her friends and family with her whole heart, and that’s probably why she was hurting so badly even though she hadn’t really known Aaron that long. It seemed like she’d given her heart to him, and he’d shattered it into a million pieces. And now, she had to see him with Eliza every single day. “I wish I could go punch both Aaron and Eliza in the face,” I muttered, folding my arms.
“You and me both, lil girl,” he agreed. “I’m pretty sure Aaron sees the error of his ways now, and I know for a fact he was manipulated, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he believed someone else over your sister, and he shouldn’t have treated her the way that he did.”
Of course, I wasn’t privy to all of the facts, and I was pretty sure Elliott wouldn’t fill me in. But I had to ask. “Manipulated? By Eliza?” He nodded, no longer looking at me. “Does Cadence know that?”
“She knows. But she can’t do anything about it right now.”
“And Aaron knows?” He confirmed that for me as well. I felt rage boiling up inside of me. “And he’s still with her?”
Elliott let out a slow breath. “It’s a lot more complicated than it sounds, sweetie. I can’t tell you anything else. I wish I could. Or that I hadn’t mentioned any of it to begin with.”
“No, it’s okay,” I said, realizing I was prying. Cadence hadn’t really wanted to talk about it, and it wasn’t even fair of me to ask Elliott for information my sister didn’t want to divulge. “I just… wish she was happy.”
“Well, she’s really good at her job, I mean, amazing, and I think she’s happy about that. She just needs to keep focused on training and leave all the drama behind. I think she’s doing that.”
“Good,” I nodded. “I’m glad to hear that at least.”
“We should probably go inside before you mom thinks I’m telling you more than I’m supposed to.”
“Okay,” I agreed, but even before I opened the door, something occurred to me, another burning question I’d been dying to ask. “Elliott—can she die?”
“What’s that now?” he asked, halfway out of the car himself.
“Cadence. She can die, right? I mean, I know she’s got some superhero skills, like she can jump off of the roof and run really fast and stuff, but she’s not immortal, is she?”
“No, Cass. None of us are immortal. Some of us live a lot longer than others, but there’s not a creature on this planet that can’t die at the hand of something, not as far as I know anyway.”
I held his gaze for a moment before I nodded and grabbed my backpack, pulling myself up out of the low-framed car. I closed the scissor door behind me, still reflecting on his words. The way he said it made it sound like the only way my sister, or him, could die is if they were murdered—he’d said “die at the hand of something.” Does that mean they could live on inevitably so long as nothing got to them?
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my mom’s overly-chipper voice greeting us from the front porch. “Well, hello there! I thought you were going to sit in the car all day!”
“Sorry, I muttered. We were just talking about my biology project. Elliott was my teacher today. I didn’t even know he could be a substitute teacher, but now I do!” As far as my mom knew, I had accepted all of this just like the other kids; I had already drank the Kool-Aid.
“Isn’t that great?” my mom gushed, playing along with Elliott’s story. She hugged him and welcomed him in, advising him to make himself at home, and I silently marveled at how it seemed like this is where he belonged, like he was part of our family. Since he’d mentioned not having one of his own, I was more than willing to make him the big brother I’d never had if he wanted the job. Unfortunately, there was an opening recently created by either an awful disease or something related to death by vampires, possibly vampire hunters.
I still had no idea what had happened to Jack, but I wasn’t worried about it, and I didn’t know if that was my own thinking or someone else’s. Everything became jumbled up in my head again, and when my mom asked me to go upstairs so she could talk to Elliott, I didn’t even protest. I even decided against eavesdropping since I was pretty sure I either already knew everything they were about to say or didn’t want to know.
In my room, lying on my bed, I thought about the freedom I’d experienced speeding down the highway in the Lamborghini and wondered if that would really be my life someday. Would I transform into a vampire hunter like Cadence had? And if so, could I stand across from a vampire in battle and defeat it? I felt like I would be capable of doing just that, once I’d gone through the same kind of training she was undergoing now. I wondered if I’d also meet a dashing stranger and fall head over heels for him, though I hoped that things wouldn’t go the same way for me as they had for Cadence with Aaron. Maybe I could let Liam know of my new advanced skills, and he’d want to ask me to the homecoming dance coming up in a couple of months.
My mind continued to bounce around between subjects, even as I tried to do the little bit of homework I had, and when my mom called me down for dinner, I was still pondering what it would be like to be a vampire hunter. One thing was for certain; I was more than ready to leave this old life behind and find out for myself, just as soon as they would let me.