16 Chapter 16

Cadence gasped. Her entire reality was being tipped on its head. "How is that possible? If you were a Hunter and he was the Guardian Leader, how could that have possibly happened?"

Cadence could tell by Janette's expression that she really wished to say no more. A glance at Jamie and Eliza showed nothing but concern for her grandmother.

Janette had tears in her eyes, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, dabbing at the corners of her eyes.

"This is a difficult memory for all of us," Jamie said quietly. "Do you want me to tell her?"

"No, I'll do it," Janette insisted. "It's my burden to bear. Is Aaron still with us?"

Jamie nodded, a solemn expression on his face.

Cadence couldn't help but wonder why her grandmother had asked that particular question, but she realized Aaron must've known her grandfather if he succeeded him. Perhaps this memory was also troublesome to him.

Janette's voice cut through the silence. "It was my fault," she began. The Guardians protested, and Cadence imagined the third one, the one she could not hear, likely did as well. "No, now, let me tell it my way. It's my story."

Eliza and Jamie exchanged glances and seemed resolved not to speak as Janette relayed the information to her granddaughter.

"Before I ever met your grandfather, I had dated a Hunter by the name of Skelton. He was sweet on me, seemed to have been that way for as long as I could remember. I didn't really like him so much. He was a good looking fellow, but I knew for a fact he had been hunting Compliant Vampires, and I didn't approve of that. Jordan was the Guardian Leader when I Transformed, but he didn't train me. I didn't meet him until I had been hunting for several years. Once I established a reputation for being fairly handy with an ax, my weapon of choice at the time, well, Jordan wanted to meet the little lady who took off Vampire heads with 'one foul swoop' as he used to say. Your grandfather was quite the character, you know." She smiled at Cadence, and for the first time since she had walked in the door, Cadence thought she saw some joy in her eyes.

"Anyway, about the time that I met Jordan, there was an accident. The Hunter Leader was severely injured by a Vampire when the Guardians didn't get there in time to assist. Your grandfather was livid. He said we needed new forms of communication, new protocols, what have you. Back then, it was pretty common to lose over one hundred Hunters a year to Vampire kills. We almost couldn't grow them fast enough to replace them. But your grandfather, see, he was a smart cookie. He got his people working on technology. Did you know that we were using cell phone technology to communicate with each other in the 1940s? Can you imagine what that type of capability would have done during World War II? Of course, all that came much later than what I'm talking about now. But those were the types of things he was working on, finding ways to save more Hunters' lives and chase down more Rogue Vampires. And he was very successful. And so popular with the Guardians and the Hunters alike; he really was."

Janette paused then, glancing down at the picture of her late husband, and Cadence sat quietly, waiting for her to continue. "Well, once I went to train with Jordan and he actually started to work with me, you know, go on hunts and the like, well, my popularity grew as well. Whenever you lose a Leader, there are usually at least a few years of transition where the group doesn't know for sure who they want to appoint as Leader, or they are divided. But for me, it was quick and painless. Representatives from the other Hunters approached me one evening and asked me if I would accept the position of Hunter Leader. I talked it over with Jordan to see what he thought, knowing how demanding such a job might be. Well, he was tickled pink for me, you know. He was real happy. He thought I should accept for sure. And so, I did. And that was a long time ago, back in 1858, same year we got married. You see, darling, there's a history of that in our Passels. With very few exceptions, if the two Leaders are of different genders, they almost always end up hitching up. Not sure why, but it's a fact. Isn't that right?" she asked the question of Eliza and Jamie who both nodded in agreement.

"And we were happily married for over a hundred years, fighting Vampires together, inventing new things, new methods. Old Skelton, well, he didn't like it. So, he decided to go off on his own. We heard from him every once in a while, especially if he'd make a big kill, some nasty Vampire brought down by his hand, you know. But for the most part, he was out of sight and out of mind.

"We even decided to raise a family. I was fighting Vampires even at nine months pregnant. I did that with both your daddy and your Aunt Lorraine. Can you believe that? Life was pretty good. We were planning on spending the next couple of hundred years together. Of course, I thought for sure your grandfather would outlive me, and we talked about that. It's part of being a Guardian. You know most of the individuals you love in your life will be lost to you eventually." The two Guardians present in the room nodded. Cadence remembered that Aaron was also listening and absently wondered if his reaction was the same as these two.

Her grandmother continued. "But then, Skelton shows up again. He comes in, wants to talk to Jordan, wants to join forces with him. This is about the time that your daddy was going to make his decision, whether or not to join the family business, you know, or if he was just going to stay a human. As a Hunter, if you don't Transform by age 21, you lose the ability to do so. Anyway, Skelton shows up. And we worked together really well for several years. Jordan had met Aaron by then and was just real impressed with him. He took Aaron under his wing, you know, training him up in case he ever decided to step aside from Leader and let someone else do it for a while. But what we didn't know was, this whole time, Skelton's plotting; he's scheming away, just looking for the perfect opportunity to get Jordan in a situation where he can destroy him and make it look like it was an accident. And, finally the time came, and, well, I won't go into too much detail, darling, I really can't. It's just too hard." She cleared her throat, and Cadence nodded, seeing the tears coming back again. "But I will tell you, what Skelton didn't know, and what damned him in the end, is that your grandfather was wearing a recording device. Aaron had set him up so that everything he did or said would be relayed back to some big computer that kept track of all of it. This was before the IAC, of course. So, even though Skelton said it was an accident, well, the tapes said otherwise." She was dabbing at her eyes again, and Cadence wasn't sure if she was finished or not. She was afraid to interrupt so she just waited. Finally, Janette added, "And now you know about your grandfather, what an amazing individual he truly was."

Cadence leaned over and hugged her grandma tightly. All these years she had, had no idea of the true story of her grandparents' love, and how it spanned the length of nearly a century-and-a-half. "Thank you, Grandma Janette, for letting me know," she said, still holding her tightly.

Her grandmother said nothing, just patted her gently on the back. Finally, after a few minutes, they let go of each other, and Jamie cleared his throat, gaining Cadence's attention. "I know all of that was probably more than a little overwhelming, but I need to further explain the Transformation process." He paused, his eyes glued to Cadence's, and even though she was nervous, she nodded for Jamie to continue.