Though the messages from Aaron did make her feel better, Cadence was still extremely upset about the phone calls. It seemed so odd to her that this impersonator could call her from a Lincoln phone number at a bar, and then an Omaha number. Unless, of course, the second number was a cell phone and the caller was a college kid. That would make sense. Still, what kind of a sicko did things like that? As much as she tried to put it out of her mind and go to sleep, his words kept crawling through her brain. "I'll be there soon." If she could deal with the likes of Barbarosa, she could handle just about anything. Nevertheless, the idea that some psycho pretending to be Jack was about to show up outside of her door was extremely unsettling, and she suddenly wished she was not alone.
She had some options, but in the end, the person to call on seemed obvious. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked, utilizing her IAC once again.
"Just hanging out. What's up?" Elliott replied, instantaneously.
She hesitated, not exactly sure how to explain it. Part of her wanted to say, "I'm afraid of the dark!" but that wouldn't quite go with her new Vampire Hunter persona. So, she simply said, "I don't want to be alone. I'm sure you're back at the hotel…."
Before she could even finish the message, her bedroom window opened and he was standing in front of her, across the room. "What's the matter?" Elliott asked, as quietly as he could with his gruff voice.
"Where were you?" Cadence asked, shocked, surprised, and relaxing from the defensive stance she had instinctively taken. It was difficult to keep her voice down, but she didn't want to wake her sister, whose room was right next door. Cassidy also had the ability to become a Vampire Hunter, but she wasn't one yet, and she didn’t even know about the Clandestine Ternion. Like the rest of Cadence's friends, Cassidy believed that Elliott and Hannah were just friends of Cadence's from work.
Elliott sat down on the foot of her bed, his weight causing the mattress beneath her to shift a bit. "I was on your roof," he replied, as if it was the most natural and logical place for him to be.
She snickered. "Why in the world were you on my roof?"
"In case you needed me," he responded, keeping his matter-of-fact tone. "Came in handy, didn't it?"
"So, you weren't up there keeping watch out for Vampires?" The last time Cadence had been under heavy surveillance was when Holland and her team had threatened to attack Cadence and her family.
"Nope, not this time," Elliott assured her. "Just thought it might be handy to stay close by, in case I was needed." In actuality, his main purpose was to keep an eye out for Jack. He knew that, eventually, the newborn would show up in Shenandoah, at least if Cadence stayed there for any length of time. If he did so, Elliott wanted to make sure that the team was ready. At this point, he knew Cadence had not even been told that Jack had Resurrected, and he wasn't exactly sure how she might respond to seeing him.
"Awww," Cadence gushed. "You're so thoughtful!"
"I do my best," Elliott said, winking at her in gest. "So, do you want to talk about it or hug it out or what?"
Cadence couldn't help but chuckle at his attitude. Despite her disposition she said, "I just got another phone call... from the Jack impersonator."
Attempting to lighten the mood, Elliott responded, "Nicholson? Was it a good one? Because some people think they do a good Jack Nicholson, and it's just way over the top."
Shaking her head, Cadence said, "You're such a moron," as if she was talking to a brother. "No, not Nicholson. And it freaked me out because. . . well, for so many reasons. But this call was from Omaha. How did this dude get there, too? Or is it someone else? Or is this his cell? I just. . . it's creepy, and unsettling. And I don't like it."
"I'm sorry, kiddo," Elliott said, patting the blanket that covered her leg. "That is unnerving. Did you block the number?"
"Yes!" Cadence confirmed. "And deleted all of the calls. I feel like my phone has… Cooties or something."
"Okay, well, whoever it was, he can't bother you again. So, let's just put it out of your mind, and try to get some sleep," he suggested.
"I tried that!" she stated emphatically. "This room is so hard to sleep in. I can't stop thinking about the voice, and about Jack, and Drew.” She left out "and Aaron" but that was a private thought, and Elliott could probably surmise that on his own.
Elliott seemed to consider her predicament for a moment before making a suggestion. "Do you want me to put you to sleep?" he asked. It wasn't something he did very often, but it was part of his talent, and if it would help her to finally get some long-needed rest, then he was willing to do it.
"What, are you going to read the encyclopedia or something? I mean, sometimes your stories are long, but you're not that boring," she joked.
"Hardy, har, har," he replied, showing his true age a bit. "It's nice to know that your fear and desperation hasn't affected your ability to make sarcastic comments.”
"Oh, well, nothing really affects that," she muttered, before asking, "Can you do that? Can you put me to sleep--I mean, not like a dog or anything--just temporarily?"
"Oh, no, this would be permanent," he teased. "I can, if you want me to. But, you will sleep for as long as you need to. I mean, if your body needs, like, fourteen hours of sleep to catch up, that's how long you'll sleep."
"What if I have a bad dream?" she asked, hesitantly. She definitely didn't want to be trapped in a nightmare indefinitely. Her life had resembled that enough lately as it was.
"You honestly won't have many dreams," he explained. "You may have a few when you first start to fall asleep, and then again when you begin to wake up, but most of the time you'll be in a very deep sleep. If you do dream, you probably won't remember it at all when you wake up."
Cadence considered the options for a moment and then, despite common sense leaning against it, she asked, "It won't hurt, will it?" Her experience during her Transformation and then again when she had her IAC implanted made her extremely cautious when it came to situations such as these.
"It will be excruciating," he said, sarcasm dripping from each word. "No, it won't hurt. It'll be sort of like falling into a hypnotic trance. But you won't be hypnotized. I won't make you cluck like a chicken or eat dirt or anything."
Taking a deep breath, Cadence agreed. "Okay, let's do it. I just want to get some sleep."
"All right then," Elliott said, shifting his weight on the bed. Cadence flopped down, pulling her blankets up around herself, trying to get comfortable. "Just listen to the sound of my voice. You are falling asleep," he began. Elliott's tone was soft and low, and Cadence immediately felt a rush of calmness overtake her. "You are completely relaxed. You're not worried about anything. Your mind is clear. You are happy and completely content. You are going to go to sleep, and while you are sleeping, your body will become refreshed and restored. You will sleep for as long as you need to so that you are reenergized and revitalized. You are starting to drift off now; the world is melting away. Go to sleep, Cadence; go to sleep." Her breathing evened out, her eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she was out.
