Jack had never imagined he would be staying in a hotel in Shenandoah. It never crossed his mind that he would ever need to, what with his parents' house a permanent feature in his life and in this town. But he certainly couldn't show up there, not since his entire family and all of his friends thought that he was dead. He would have to stay out of sight. So, Giovani had rented a small room in an unimpressive hotel on the outskirts of town, hopeful that they could get to Cadence soon, possibly tomorrow, and then get out of town.
Seeing his own obituary in the paper was extremely surreal. It was well written; he sounded like a standup guy. He briefly wondered what the people reading his accolades would think if they had witnessed his confrontation of that waitress in the woods last night. They probably wouldn't think of him as "One of Shenandoah's brightest stars," or "A champion taken oh too soon."
He had learned that his own memorial would be held the next afternoon, and despite Giovani's reluctance, he insisted on going. He knew Cadence would be there, and he had to see her. He longed to touch her, to kiss her lips, to hold her, and prove to her that he was the same Jack she had professed her love for just a few days ago. Once Cadence joined him as an undead, they would be able to spend the rest of eternity together. She would understand why becoming a Vampire was so important, once she realized they could be together forever this way. It may take some convincing, but Cadence was smart, and he knew she would listen to him.
He would have to be careful not to be seen by anyone else, of course. And it would be difficult to see his parents and the rest of his family and not be able to speak to them, particularly if they were upset over his death. But he would find a way to get to Cadence. Once she knew he was not gone forever, she would be elated. Then, their new lives could begin.
Giovani was thirsty, but Jack insisted they could not kill anyone in Shenandoah. If they were going to claim any victims, they would have to go out of town. He was still satiated from the girl at the truck stop, but he had saved none for his brother. Reluctantly, he agreed to go out on a hunt with Giovani, one in a neighboring town. Then, he would come back to the hotel and dream of the beautiful Cadence Findley. By tomorrow night, she would be his again, at last.
* * *
"How does this sound?" Cadence asked, leaning back in her chair, letting Elliott read the words on the computer screen.
He had been pacing behind her, tossing a Koosh ball in the air, critiquing her every thought for the last half hour as she attempted to write the speech she was to give at Jack's memorial service the next day. Looking over her shoulder, he read the half page she had written and paused to reflect. "Looks pretty good to me," he said, impressed with her writing skills. "It's what they asked for. I say, print it."
"Are you sure?" Cadence asked, looking over it again. He had been very helpful, particularly when it came to word choice. Still, she was taking this request very seriously, and she wanted to make sure that it was the best she could do.
"Yeah, I think so," he insisted, glancing at it one more time.
Cadence glanced up at him before sighing and hitting print. She set it to make two copies, one to carry on stage with her, and one for Elliott to read to her, just in case she froze up on stage and couldn't read from the paper copy. She should at least be able to repeat what he said to her.
Dangling the Koosh ball by one rubber filament, he bounced it off of her head, just to be annoying. "Do you mind?" she asked, swatting at him.
"Not at all," he replied, curtly, doing it again.
"Twerp," Cadence mumbled, taking the papers off of the printer and handing him a copy. She read over it again, still swatting at the Koosh ball. When she was finished, she shrugged her shoulders, wondering if she could make any improvements.
"Sleep on it, and see what you think in the morning," Elliott suggested. He took the copy she gave him, folded it in quarters, and stuck it in his pocket.
"Good idea," she said, shutting down her computer and setting the paper on the desk. She crossed over to her bed and flung herself onto it backward, suddenly feeling both physically and mentally exhausted.
Elliott put the ball down on top of her dresser. "You okay, kid?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the bed.
Cadence pushed her hair back off of her forehead. "Yeah," she replied, halfheartedly. "I guess so."
"Nothin' easy about that," he said, shaking his head. "You can do it, though. If anyone can, it's you."
"Ha!" Cadence smirked, trying not to roll her eyes. "I know y'all think I'm some sort of superhero, but not when it comes to stuff like this. I'm terrible at talking in front of people. And, I'm pretty sure I'm going to start crying so . . . ."
"No you won't," he insisted. "Hannah will be there."
She hadn't considered that. "Oh, yeah, that's true. Can she do anything for stage fright? Panic attacks?"
"Actually, yes. But I don't think she'll need to. You got this, kid," he patted her knee reassuringly.
Cadence suddenly realized he was using his little trick on her. "Oh," she mumbled. "I guess you can help with this, too, huh?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, winking at her.
"Thanks," she replied, sitting up and scooting around to face him. "You've been a really great friend these last few days," she added.
He smiled at her. "Well, you kept me from getting my ass kicked, both literally and figuratively, the other day, so, it's the least I could do." After a moment he added, "Besides, I kinda like you, kid."
She couldn't help but grin at him. "You're ridiculous," she mumbled under her breath. "I kinda like you, too. But not in the way my mother thought I did," she added, remembering her mother's comments.
"What?" he asked an amused and alarmed expression on his face.
"I know, right?" Cadence asked. "She thought we were a couple or something."
"That's cray-cray," he exclaimed in his best ghetto accent. "That'd be like. . . dating my sister. Or, my sister-in-law. Or something. Weird."
"That's my mom," Cadence admitted. Then, she added, "Oh, and she thought that Aaron was gay."
With that, Elliott burst out laughing, shaking the entire bed. He threw himself backward, popping Cadence off of the mattress. It took him a few moments to catch his breath even long enough to say, "That's hilarious. Did you tell him?"
"No!" she assured him. "Are you kidding? 'Hey, baby, how's it going? My mom thinks you're gay. Wanna hook up?' Now, who's cray-cray?"
"Well, I would never say this to his face, but I can kinda see why she would think that, not knowing him well. He is a bit of a metrosexual, that's for certain," he admitted.
Cadence was still skeptical. "I don't see it," she stated.
"No, you wouldn't," Elliott agreed. "Why did she say that, anyway?"
"Well, when she thought that I was dating you, and I told her I wasn't, she asked me if I was seeing anyone. And I told her it was complicated, not that I was dating someone. But she asked who. She's my mom, what can I say? She asks a lot of prying questions. Don't moms do that?" Cadence asked, absently twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"Hell if I know," Elliott replied. "My mom never asked me much of anything except for to pass the booze and to change my baby brother's diaper. Sorry, kid, can't help you there."
"That's awful," Cadence said consolingly. "I'm so sorry to hear that. I thought that generation was, like, June Cleaver, or something."
"That was just TV, not real life. No big deal now, it's been so long," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he added, "But I don't really want to talk about it either."
"Okay," she agreed. "Well, my mom has always been very supportive. I'm very lucky."
"You are," he said nodding. "You have great parents."
"I do," Cadence replied. "Thanks."
"Sure. Hey, speaking of prying, what was Christian doing up here?" he asked.
"You are prying, aren't you? He just came to check on me, that's all," she said as nonchalantly as she could muster.
He looked at her with a bit of skepticism but didn't ask anything else. "Okay," he said slowly.
"How did you know he was here, anyway?" she asked.
"It's my job to keep you safe. I think I should know when someone comes into your room," he replied.
"Good point," she agreed. "Well, believe it or not, I'm actually tired. I've got a long day ahead of me. I think I'm going to get some sleep."
"Okay. I'll head back to the hotel. Hannah's probably bored out of her mind by now. I think Aaron and Eliza are headed back in the morning," he added.
She nodded her head. "Okay. I haven't talked to either of them all day. And, if they're on a hunt now, I probably won't be able to before I fall asleep."
"I'll tell Eliza you said goodnight then," he said winking.
"Yes, please do," Cadence replied sarcastically. "I wouldn't be able to sleep if I thought she wasn't having one."
