Realizing he hadn’t yet spoken to Brandon that evening, Aaron asked, “How have you been, Brandon?”
He finished chewing and took a drink of his soda before replying, “Pretty good, I guess. Can’t complain too much. You guys doing all right?”
“Yeah, busy as usual,” Aaron replied nonchalantly. Cadence caught his eyes for a second, her expression pressing him to elaborate. Aaron hesitated, not sure if the information she wanted him to share would even be important to Brandon, but after a moment, he finally continued. “We, uh, caught the Hunter that killed Elliott last week.”
Brandon’s chewing slowed for a second as he considered the information. He swallowed and then asked, “Caught him or killed him?”
“We brought him in alive,” Aaron confirmed. “He’s in pretty bad shape, but he should recover in a few weeks.”
There seemed to be a struggle between disinterest and a need to ascertain more information. After another lengthy pause, Brandon asked, “Why didn’t you just kill him?”
“That’s what he wanted,” Cadence explained. “He was in a really bad plane crash. He was begging us to put him out of his misery, but we wouldn’t let him get away that easily. Now, he’s in a six by six jail cell with no windows laying on a cot recovering from several broken bones and hundreds of lacerations.”
Brandon’s eyes widened. “Damn, you guys are hardcore.”
“Well, Elliott was pretty important to us,” Aaron said, trying not to sound defensive “Sam needs to suffer a little bit for what he did.”
“Oh, I’m not saying he doesn’t,” Brandon agreed, tossing his crust on his plate. “I’m just surprised. I thought you guys were a little too… superhero-ish for that sort of thing, that’s all.”
The other two exchanged questioning glances before Cadence asked, “Superhero-ish? What does that mean?”
“You know, good guys always trying to take the high road, all that jazz,” he explained.
Cadence laughed. “I rip the heads off of monsters for a living. I ain’t got time to think about what other people think is humane. Oh, sure, we are the good guys, but we are also a bunch of bad asses.”
Nodding slowly, Brandon said, “Yes, I see that. I could tell by your Pryor Tiger Pride sweatshirt.”
She knew he was teasing her, so she jabbed him in the arm hard enough to make him yell. “Don’t mess with me, Keen. I can rip your head off, too,” she winked.
“Shit! I believe you!” Brandon replied rubbing his arm. “Holy, hell. Call her off, bro!”
“Cadence, play nice,” Aaron cautioned, shaking his head.
“He started it,” she said, sticking her tongue out at both of them.
“I will separate you,” Aaron scolded.
“I would ask you to if those girls over there didn’t think we were just playing. Geeze!” He continued to rub his arm for a second as Cadence smiled with glee. “So, you said this guy was in an airplane crash? And that didn't kill him?”
“Yes. We can’t die from normal stuff--like crashes and accidents. The only thing that can kill me is a Vampire. Or old-age--eventually, but not for a really long time. And the only thing that can kill a Guardian is a Hunter.”
“What?” Brandon asked, shocked. He looked at Aaron as if he didn’t trust what Cadence was saying and he needed confirmation. “For real?”
Aaron nodded. “For real. You could shoot one of us right now, and it wouldn’t kill us. It might hurt for a little while, but we wouldn’t die.”
“I seriously need to get some of the drugs you guys take,” the teenager replied shaking his head in disbelief.
“Sure, come on board, and you can have some. It’s called Transformation Serum, and it’s great stuff,” Cadence reminded him as she tossed her arm around his shoulders.
He looked at her hand suspiciously but realized the girls across the room were chattering even louder now, and one of the guys from the football team gave his approval with a very loud, “Dude!”
For the moment, Brandon ignored her remark, still mulling over everything in his mind. Eventually he said, “I looked you guys up online. I couldn’t find anything. I mean, sure, there are a million sites that talk about Vampires being real, but nothing on LIGHTS or anything like that. The address for your compound is listed as some private government agency.”
“It is,” Aaron replied. “There wouldn’t be any information because everything is extremely secretive. We control what happens on social media, and we control the people who have the information. There are consequences for people who break the Clandestine Code.”
“You sound like the mob,” Brandon muttered, taking another drink.
“We’re a lot bigger and a lot more powerful than the mob,” Cadence assured him. “But we really are also the good guys. Despite Sam’s broken condition.”
He seemed to consider her response for a few moments before asking, “So why are you in Oklahoma?”
“Did you hear about those two kids in Adair who got killed a couple of weeks ago?” Aaron asked, leaning across the table and talking very quietly. Brandon nodded. “And the truck driver last Tuesday night in Talhequah?”
“Yeah, of course. This is a small community, and those towns are pretty close to here.”
“Well, we’re going to make sure that spree ends tonight,” Cadence explained, matter-of-factly.
Brandon looked at them both curiously. “Are you saying those people were killed by a … Vampire?” he asked just above a whisper.
Aaron nodded, and Brandon couldn’t help but shake his head. “That’s crazy. Don’t you think if they’d been drained of blood the newspapers might have mentioned that?”
“They’re never completely drained,” Cadence elaborated. “And people don’t usually talk about what they can’t explain.”
“God, why do I talk to these people?” Brandon mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and staring at the table in front of him. “You need help. You really do.”
“You’re right, we do…” Cadence agreed.
“Cadence,” Aaron cautioned her over the IAC.
“We need a good Guardian to help us out,” she continued. “This is your lucky day!” She slapped him on the back, careful not to hurt him this time. “How’s about you come on over to headquarters with us tomorrow and get started on your training?”
“I wish I could, but I have to finish school,” Brandon said, clearly being sarcastic. “Besides, my mom would never let me.”
“We actually have a high school program,” Aaron explained. “But I’m sure your mom would want you to finish high school here.”
Cadence squinted at him. “We do?” she asked.
“Yes, and a lot of team members have finished their college degrees online or at local universities,” he said nonchalantly.
“Why am I just hearing about this now?” Cadence asked, her mouth agape.
“What? Like you have time for college courses?” Aaron countered.
“Still…it would have been nice to know!”
“Hey, I hate to interrupt your little quarrel, but I thought we were talking about me,” Brandon reminded them. “So, if you guys are going to dispatch this sucker tonight, why can’t I just go with you? Then, I’ll see for myself, and I can decide if I think it’s for me.”
“Oh, absolutely not,” Aaron said shaking his head adamantly. “There are protocols for that sort of thing. You have to go through Transformation before you can go on a hunt.”
“Oh, come on, man! What’s one little hunt going to hurt? I’ll stay back. Hell, I’ll stay in the car if I can see.”
“No way,” Aaron said with no uncertainty.
“Cadence?” Brandon asked, trying the old “ask mom” routine.
She looked from Brandon to Aaron, her eyes wide with bewilderment, and then back at Aaron. He was sending her IAC messages to say no, but she couldn’t help but wonder what the harm would be. She knew for a fact that this Vampire would go down easily and that she could handle it completely by herself. Still, if anything happened to Brandon.... But… if he decided to Transform because of it…. “I…”
“Cadence!” Aaron said sharply.
“Cadence?” Brandon said sweetly.
“I…”
“CADENCE!”
“Come on, babe…” Brandon sweet talked her.
“I….” A vibration in her pocket caught her attention. “Have to answer my phone!” She pulled it out of her pocket, thankful to have a moment to consider the situation; it wasn’t as if Aaron couldn’t override anything she said anyway. She saw that it was her sister calling and found that odd since it was so late. It was a FaceTime, so she slid the bar to answer and waited a second for her sister to come into view. “Cassidy? What’s up?”
