Chapter 7: Vampire High

Luckily, Cassidy had no desire or necessity to drink blood, human or otherwise. She had two years of high school left, and her family really wanted her to finish in Shenandoah, though Cassidy had argued that it would be better if she went to LIGHTS now to train. Cadence knew her sister could be a secret weapon in fighting Vampires—that she could potentially help them find Gibbon, who hadn’t surfaced since he escaped in October—but her parents wanted Cassidy to wait, and Cadence respected their wishes, especially since Cassidy had almost gotten killed the last time she went out on a Hunt. Not that she was supposed to be there, but nevertheless, Cadence was the one who had to sit down across from her parents and tell them that Cassidy was some sort of a Vampire/Vampire Hunter hybrid, and she didn’t know if her mother would ever recover. Once they realized she was mostly herself, both girls had been forgiven, but Cadence still felt responsible, so she didn’t press the issue of Cassidy coming to LIGHTS.

Cassidy did, however, and Cadence was fairly certain the reason for the attitude was the fact that she knew her sister would be leaving soon to return to headquarters, and she wouldn’t be allowed to go. She went a few times a month on the weekends and had spent a good deal of her winter break there, but that wasn’t enough. Cassidy wanted to be part of the action. And she also didn’t like being away from Brandon for more than a few minutes.

“Why are you really here?” Cassidy asked through her newly-installed IAC.

“I told you. I wanted to check on you,” Cadence replied.

“All right, well, I have a test tomorrow, and I need to go study.”

“You mean you need to go talk to Brandon?” Cadence asked, sending up a stream of hearts and kisses emojis.

Physically shaking her head, Cassidy got up out of her chair, “You’re such a moron.”

“Are you two talking through your eyes again?” Liz asked. “I really wish I had one of those thingies. Is that possible? Can normal people have those?”

“No, just abnormal people like me,” Cassidy replied, crossing her arms.

“Now, honey, you know that’s not what I meant,” Liz sighed as Cassidy held up one hand.

“God, when did you turn into such a teenager?” Cadence asked, also standing up. “Before you disappear, give me a hug. I’ll try to come back and get you this weekend.”

“Try hard,” Cassidy replied, half-heartedly hugging her sister. “This town is lame.”

“I’ll do my best,” Cadence assured her as she slunk off toward the stairs. Returning to her seat, Cadence asked her mom, “So… how long has this been going on? I don’t think I noticed her attitude at all when she was at LIGHTS.”

“Probably not, because that’s where she wants to be,” Liz replied, shaking her head. “She hardly comes out of her room anymore, and even though we have a ‘no technology at the dinner table rule,’ how can we possibly tell if she’s talking on that thing? It’s not like I can make her stop.”

“Maybe we should have waited to have it put in, but I was hoping that it would be a compromise. She could still know what’s going on and talk to Brandon whenever she wants but she could stay here and finish school with her friends.”

“I think she’s kind of stopped hanging out with a lot of them,” Liz said, leaning in closely, even though they could hear loud music coming from Cassidy’s room now. “She still sees Lucy and Emma, who know the truth of course, but that’s about it.”

“She’s not cheerleading for the basketball team?”

“No, she decided not to. Said it was ‘lame’.”

Cadence shook her head. “She didn’t even tell me that.”

“I guess she didn’t want you to question her about it. She’s still a child, Cadence. I hate to see her miss out on so much because of this… accident.”

“I know, Mom. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, honey, I wasn’t saying it was your fault.”

“I should have never trusted her to come back here by herself.”

“Well, what’s done is done. As much as we may regret what has happened in the past, there’s nothing we can do to go back and change it,” Liz shrugged.

Her mother’s words resonated for several reasons. “What if you could?” she asked. “What if you could go back and fix something that had gone wrong. Would you do it?”

Eyebrows furrowed, her mother asked, “What do you mean, Cadence?”

Turning more to face her, Cadence asked, “Mom, what if you had a way to fix one thing that had gone terribly wrong. Even if you knew there may be some consequences, would you change it? If you felt like the outcome would be better after the change?”

“Well… that’s a lot of ifs, honey,” Liz replied as she mulled over the question. “I guess it depends on how severe the consequences were and how much of a wrong it would right.”

“A major—huge—life-altering wrong, Mom.”

“Darling, is there something you want to tell me?”

Cadence let out a sigh. “No, Mom. I was just… thinking about the past and things I would like to change. Wishing I could change a couple of them.”

“I know it’s tempting to spend our time thinking about all of the things that have gone wrong and wish they were different, but those things can’t be changed, dear. Sometimes, it’s best to just focus on all that’s gone right. Accept that the past is the past and you can’t go back.”

“Right,” Cadence said, nodding her head. As much as she wanted to agree with her mother, clearly Liz did not have all of the information. For that matter, neither did Cadence. She realized she shouldn’t have even brought it up without being able to tell her everything, but her mother’s advice was usually very sound. This time, however, it just left her feeling even more unsettled.

“Are you going to stay until your father gets home?” Liz asked.

“As much as I want to, I need to get back. I have a few things I need to talk to Aaron about, and they honestly can’t wait,” Cadence explained.

“All right. Well, come back as soon as you can. Dad will be sad he missed you.”

Cadence loved her father dearly and really did want to stay and say hello to him, but a quick search of her IAC told her that the next blue moon—the kind her grandmother had been talking about—was only a week away. She had a lot of answers to gather and not a lot of time to find them. It was almost like Hunting a Vampire who didn’t want to be found.