Interlacing his fingers and placing them behind his head, Christian leaned way back in his chair, and for a second Cadence thought he might actually tip over. “Well, it was 1804. We were on a hunt in New Jersey. The war with the British was over, and we had won, but we still had fighting to do. The French had come to help, but they’d also brought in a slew of young Vampires.”
“What is it with the French and Vampires?” Cadence muttered.
“Who knows? Heightened sex drive maybe? Anyway, we were in pursuit of a young female who had been doing a lot of damage in the farm areas in New Jersey. Hamilton and Burr were famous politicians at the time. In fact, Burr was the sitting Vice President of the United States. He was still very active, though. He had a drive; he wanted to kill every single one of them, and he was a deadeye. Except for this one time. It was just miscommunication. It was a lot harder to coordinate back then, without IACs or anything of that nature.
“So, Burr took a shot, and it should’ve been spot on, but just as he pulled the trigger, Hamilton crossed his path. He turned, and the bullet hit him in the stomach, lodging next to his spine. It was awful. Hamilton was not only an amazing Guardian with impeccable skills on the battlefield, he was the leader of the Federalist party. He likely would’ve become president someday.”
“Wow, that’s awful. Did he die right away?”
“No, he lingered until the next afternoon. Of course, we couldn’t tell anyone what really transpired, and since Hamilton and Burr had been going back and forth in public for years, it just so happened that they’d already told a bunch of people they were going to be dueling that morning. Cover stories were a bit different then.”
Cadence shook her head. “So Hamilton and Burr weren’t really enemies then?”
“No, not at all. They actually found it quite humorous that everyone thought they were. They’d go at each other in public, in the newspapers, in political circles. But they worked quite well together when it came to hunting down Vampires. Until that day, anyway.”
Cadence realized she was leaning forward in her chair, hanging on every word. “What did Burr do next?”
“Well, he was devastated. He blamed himself, even though there really wasn’t much he could have done differently. It was an accident. The papers quoted him as saying that he had intended to kill Hamilton, but that was never the case, and I don’t believe he ever said that. Rumor was that he went into exile, but I knew what he was really doing. He was looking for a way to bring Hamilton back.”
Exhaling sharply, Cadence asked, “What made him think that was even possible?”
“No one thought it was possible. We’d not heard of any portal, any magic spell, or whatever, that could bring anyone back. But Burr knew that there were Guardians who had been around for thousands of years, and he thought, if he could find one, maybe they’d have some insight.”
“And he did find one, then?”
“Yes, he did. He came back to the very spot where the accident had occurred a few years later, and having somehow managed to procure the remains, he waited for the blue moon to rise, and the portal opened.”
“Wait! Was Hamilton cremated?”
“Nope.”
Cadence shuddered. She’d seen lots of gross things over the last few years, but the thought of digging up a body back then before there were preservatives made her stomach feel queasy. “How did he manage to get the body?”
“No one ever asked, and he never said.”
“Yuck. Okay. So were you there when the portal opened?”
Christian seemed to hesitate again, but eventually he nodded and said, “I was. He asked a few of us to come with him, to give him strength, to make sure he at least had a chance to apologize, even if Hamilton didn’t want to come through.”
“Did Burr know at the time that Hamilton wouldn’t ever be able to go back?”
“No. If the older Guardian who first told Burr about the portal was aware of the stipulation, he didn’t mention it.”
“So—when the portal opened, what happened?”
“There was just a beam of blue light, and we could see Hamilton there. He seemed surprised to see us, of course, but Burr didn’t give him much of a chance to talk. He apologized and asked him if he wanted to attempt to come through the portal. Hamilton didn’t hesitate; he walked right through.”
“Wow! What was that like?” Cadence asked.
Christian rested his head on his fist on the table. “It was kind of weird, actually. It was like, the blue ‘spirit’ Hamilton stepped through, and then there was nothing. A few seconds later, the Hamilton in the open coffin just stood up.”
“And he wasn’t all… decayed… or anything?”
“No. He wasn’t wounded anymore either.”
“Wow,” Cadence repeated, leaning back against her seat. “That’s incredible.”
Nodding, Christian said, “I’ve seen some pretty startling things in my life, but I think that was probably the most awestruck I’ve ever been.”
“And he was just like his old self?”
“Yes, for the first hundred years or so, anyway. I didn’t see him too often, but when I did, I notice that he seemed unhappy. All of the humans he loved were long dead, including his wife Elizabeth, and all eight of his children.”
“None of them Transformed?”
“His first son, Phillip, had Transformed, but he was killed in a similar situation a few years before Hamilton died.”
Cadence nodded but couldn’t help but think that was awful luck. “So he wanted out. But he couldn’t end it because of the portal.”
“Right. Eventually, he asked a Hunter to put him to rest, and though he was shot several times, point blank, nothing could kill him. So tracing Burr’s footsteps, he started looking for a way out. He’s currently on Dr. Morrow’s research team, but he comes and goes as he pleases and doesn’t hunt anymore.”
“And Burr? Did he just die of old age?”
“No, he was killed by a Vampire in New York about thirty years later. He’d had a stroke and could no longer defend himself well. Once the bloodsuckers found out, he was an easy mark.”
It had never crossed Cadence’s mind that she could have a stroke or a heart attack. But she did know that injuries could take time to heal—after all, Cowboy Sam still wasn’t completely healed from his plane crash and that had happened months ago. “That’s sad,” she muttered.
“It is. And it’s sad that Hamilton is trapped here now. He said he couldn’t remember exactly what it was like to be on the other side, but he knew he was unbelievably happy.”
