Chapter 6: Family Time

Cassidy was still at school when Cadence reached her parents’ home just a couple of hours later, but her sister would be back soon, and it gave her a chance to visit with her mom who had been a homemaker since Cadence was very young. Her father, who was an engineer, was still at work.

While Liz Findley was a bit ditzy at times and often didn’t know when to keep her mouth closed, she was an amazing mother. Cadence had never questioned how much her parents loved her. She’d been well taken care of growing up in their two-story home in Shenandoah, Iowa, never wanting for anything. Her mom was at every performance, every competition, every bake sale. She was also full of embarrassing questions.

“So—are you still using birth control?” Liz asked, taking a sip of her coffee, sitting across from Cadence on the couch in her living room.

“Seriously, Mother? You did not just ask me that!” Cadence declared, wanting to throw a pillow at her but knowing she’d definitely spill her drink.

“What? Can’t a mother inquire about grandchildren?”

“We’re not even married yet, Mom. Couldn’t you at least let us get hitched and then give us a few years? I’m kind of busy hunting down bloodsuckers right now.”

“Okay, okay. I just thought I’d ask, that’s all.”

“Well, don’t,” Cadence said, full-body shuddering.

Liz took another sip of her coffee and then asked, “Everything is going well, though? No major problems?”

She knew her mother was asking out of concern, not attempting to pry. Still, she wasn’t about to explain the situation with the blue moon portal to her mom before she asked Aaron about it. Finally, she just said, “Sure. Everything is great. I mean… we have our problems like everyone else. But we love each other a lot. We work well together. He hasn’t kicked me out for leaving the drain full of my hair—yet.”

Her mother chuckled, having first-hand experience with that hair. “Good. Sometimes it’s hard to be with someone so much and not drive each other crazy.”

There was certainly some truth to that statement—especially when the person in question seemed to literally know everything, was always one step ahead of her, and was so damn good at everything he did. It could be a little unnerving at times when she was just trying to learn the ropes. “He’s perfect,” she muttered, shrugging.

“No one is perfect,” her mother reminded her.

“No, Mom. He is. Literally. Perfect.”

“And?”

“Sometimes it’s really annoying,” Cadence replied, letting out a deep breath she didn’t know she was holding.

Her mother’s chuckle turned into a giggle and then a full-belly laugh.

“What is so funny?”

“Nothing, dear. It’s just nice to hear that other people have issues, too.”

“You’re impossible, Mother,” Cadence said, shaking her head. “I’m glad I didn’t say there was an actual problem. You might tear your spleen.”

“Oh, come on, honey. Everyone knows you two are a wonderful couple. The universe put you together after all, and since when is the universe wrong?”

Cadence turned to look at her mother. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“You know, darling. The Guardian Leader and the Hunter Leader always end up together, right? It was… fate. I don’t know why I ever fought it to begin with. I guess I just wasn’t sure you’d end up with this position.”

While she was familiar with the pattern her mother was referring to, she hadn’t given it much thought. “You don’t really believe that, do you, Mom? That fate brought us together?”

“Sure? Why not?” Liz asked. “It’s always happened before. Why wouldn’t it now?”

For the second time that day, Cadence felt greatly unsettled. She wanted to question her mother more, but just then, they heard a car in the driveway, and a few moments later, her little sister, Cassidy, walked in the door.

“Cass!” Cadence exclaimed, jumping up to go hug her. “How was your day?”

Looking at her a little oddly, Cassidy shrugged and said, “Fine. How was yours?”

“Exhausting,” Cadence admitted. Cassidy hung her backpack by the door and then followed her older sister into the living room, sitting in a chair next to Cadence who rejoined her mother on the sofa.

“Sorry to hear that. Why are you here?”

“Nice to see you, too,” Cadence replied snarkily.

“I just didn’t know you were coming.”

“Well, Grandma called me last night and asked me to come over, so I did. She just wanted to talk about some old pictures. So I decided to come and see you on my way back home.” She decided to leave out Elliott’s letter and the whole portal bit just now. After all, she had no idea whether this thing really worked or why Aaron hadn’t told her about it, so it seemed like a bad idea to tell her sister and get her hopes up just to have to take it back later.

“How was school?” their mother asked, smiling at her youngest daughter.

Shrugging again, showing disinterest in a way only a teenager can, Cassidy said, “Fine.”

Having been the mother to two of these creatures, Liz probed on. “Did you have your Biology quiz?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think you did all right?”

“I guess.”

“Geez, Cass! Who are you?” Cadence asked, picking up a pillow off of the couch and tossing it at her sister.

Cassidy’s reflexes were incredible now that she had Transformed and she easily caught it and tossed it back. Cadence barely caught it before it smacked her in the face. “I don’t know,” the teenager sighed. “I’m tired.”

“How is your eye looking?” Cadence asked, leaning forward.

“The same,” Cassidy replied. She was wearing a colored contact now to hide the steely gray eye, the only physical evidence that she was part-Vampire.

Realizing she was going to get nowhere, Cadence didn’t press her to take the contact out and show her, even though she really wanted to see it. Jamie, the team Healer, had been monitoring her closely, but none of them really knew what might happen once Cassidy was infected by Zabrina, one of the Vampires the team had recently terminated, and Jamie had started the Transformation process in an attempt to save Cass from becoming a Vampire herself. Cassidy had felt fairly normal when she’d come out of the coma the doctor had purposely put her under, but the gray eye was proof that everything wasn’t the same. She’d also reported having strange sensations from time to time and occasionally hearing voices, which Jamie had assumed were likely telepathic messages from other Vampires conversing nearby.

And occasionally, for no apparent reason, her fangs would drop.