The odor of burnt coffee mixed with the scent of mildew as Cassidy entered the RV. The mildew might’ve been coming from anywhere, but she spied the light on the coffee pot still on over by the sink and thought it odd that Vampires would ever need a kick of caffeine to get through the night, but she tried not to speculate on that. Maybe it had actually been in that position since the last human lost their life a few days ago. It would explain the stench.
Willamina sat in the middle of an old plaid sofa built into the wall of the RV. From the looks of it, the furniture was original, and this vehicle probably outdated Cassidy by at least a decade. Her eyes trained on Cassidy as she took the few steps to sit across from her in a chair she imagined one of the Guardians had set their for her. Even though Mina was secured at the ankles and hands, and had somehow been strapped to the back of the couch, she had enough room to breathe comfortably. It didn’t matter to Cassidy; the young girl knew she wasn’t in any danger.
She sank into the chair, straddling Mina’s boots, which were crossed at the ankle. If her long, straight skirt wasn’t askew, they’d been hidden. This outfit wasn’t nearly as old as the ones Cassidy had seen her slender frame donning in the memories, but she’d kept her style similar throughout the ages.
Tonight, while standing in the tree alone, she’d seen more—more of Mina’s life before and after her Resurrection, more of what she believed would come to pass in the days and months ahead should the destruction she spoke of before not be stopped. Cassidy understood now the significance the portal had, at least to some degree, and she imagined any information Mina was willing to give her might be helpful.
“You are pretty, beautiful, just like her,” Mina said, somehow managing a ghastly smile despite the circumstance. Cassidy thought she might be talking about her sister, Cadence, at first, but then, she had no idea when Mina would’ve seen her. Perhaps before the battle ensued?
“Her hair was blonde, though, not brown like yours. And it was her right eye that was unchanged. Yours is your left, isn’t it?”
Cassidy raised both eyebrows. She had her contact in. How could she know?
A cackle that sounded more like a witch than a Vampire broke free from the woman.
“I know, I know. Don’t think none of us can see in, child. A window works both ways.”
Stunned, Cassidy didn’t know what to say at first. “So… you knew? Knew what I was? When… I contacted you?”
“No, not t’other night. Not till you arrived here, and I had more time to study you,” Mina explained, her accent something one might hear on Little House on the Prairie. “But I see you now, child. And I know you see me.”
Her words were measured, and Cassidy let them hang in the air between them for a moment. “What did you want to tell me?” she asked, unable to look away from the withered face.
“First, a little help from you,” Mina bargained.
“I don’t think I can save you,” Cassidy said, though there were protests on the IAC, instructions not to give anything away until she had the information. To bluff. That was not Cassidy’s strong suit.
“Not me,” Mina said, shaking her head. “My daughter. I want you to save my daughter.”
Instinctively, Cassidy looked around, but she didn’t see anyone else with them. “Where is she?”
“Not yet. Tell me you’ll help her first,” Mina instructed, her head shifting in a slow nod that dared Cassidy not to agree.
“I will,” Cassidy confirmed, not even sure if it was a promise she could keep. “Is she… the one you spoke of?”
“The one like you?” Mina asked, a smile flickering around her mouth. Her teeth looked perfectly normal just now, and Cassidy absently ran her tongue along her own gum line. No fangs there either. “Heavens no. That was a long time ago. She’s long past, that one. Beautiful girl, though.”
“You knew someone who was half Vampire, half Hunter?” Cassidy asked, instinctively leaning forward. A shift in Mina’s position, though innocent enough, had her leaning back.
Again, a simple nod of the head was all she got.
“When? Where? What happened to her?”
“You do not need to ask these questions of me,” Mina explained. “Everything you need to know is already there. What you should be asking me about is what is to come, not what is in the past.”
Cassidy breathed in deeply through her nostrils and studied the hollow cheeks in front of her, trying not to fixate on the sunken eyes. She wasn’t sure what the woman had meant by “already there,” but it seemed asking those types of questions would get her nowhere. “What is to come?” she repeated, more for clarification than inquiry. “Okay—what is to come?”
“Do you remember the dream? The one where we stood outside of the asylum and watched the lovers meet?”
Mina’s words echoed around her, almost like she was speaking to her from the other end of a tunnel, miles away, or under the ocean. How could Mina possibly know about the dream? Had she gleaned that information from her mind earlier that evening? But—the Vampire had said “we.” What did she mean “we” watched? Cassidy closed her eyes, a difficult task sitting face to face with a monster, but once her eyes were shut, the dream she’d had, the one she couldn’t quite reach, came rushing back to her in snapshots, like a movie where the frame wasn’t advancing correctly. She saw it now—saw the dilapidated asylum Mina had spoken of, saw her own feet buried in a foot of sand beneath a shade tree, saw the night sky, saw the lovers Mina had mentioned. And then, she focused in on their faces. She’d never seen them in her life before, and they looked somewhat different. But she recognized them.
