Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Cassidy left the office and immediately went to Brandon’s apartment. She had no intention of going there when she got out of that chair, but that’s where her feet led her. This time when she knocked, it wasn’t bone shattering like it had been the night before. Waiting let her mind wander, but she didn’t want to go back over the conversation she’d just had with Aaron and Cadence. It was too upsetting.
She’d gone into that meeting fully intending to tell them where Christian was, of even contacting him while they were sitting there. But that hadn’t happened. Why, she wasn’t sure. Part of it truly was the promise she’d made to him. However, as much as she didn’t like to admit it, she hadn’t wanted to tell Cadence simply because she’d asked. Her sister had positioned her in the middle of a standoff—keep your promise or help the team. In the end, she’d decided to be stubborn and stick to her guns.
It was probably a dumb move, especially after Elliott’s, “I’m disappointed in you,” speech from earlier. But that was just the way it was, and now she’d have to deal with it. Only, she didn’t want to deal with it. She wanted to confess. The problem was, the person she wanted to confess to wasn’t opening his door.
Cassidy knocked again, louder this time. It was the middle of the day, so she figured there wouldn’t be people sleeping or anything. Still, that did not summon her ex-boyfriend from inside. Even another round of louder knocking did nothing. Frustrated, she slumped with her head against the door, fighting the urge to reach out to him with her telepathy and figure out whether he was ignoring her or wasn’t home. She could’ve used her IAC, but she didn’t want to ask him if he had a moment to chat for some stupid reason she couldn’t explain. She’d just thought he’d be here, and she could spill her guts while they were fresh for being spilled. The longer she stood there, the stupider she felt. With a sigh, she turned to go.
Brandon was standing a few feet behind her, down the hall, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Confused, she looked around and noticed Dax’s door closing, as if he’d been in there the whole time. “Are you looking for me?”
“I was,” she said, fidgeting with her fingers folded in front of her.
“Are you still?”
He was staring at her so intently, Cassidy almost couldn’t meet his gaze. The meaning in the question went far beyond finding her knocking on his door. Her answer was just as clear to her as where she was heading when she left the office. “I am.”
Brandon’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down hard, and he continued to stare at her for what seemed like an eternity before he finally said, “Okay,” and took a few steps toward her, hesitantly, like he didn’t know what he was supposed to do.
“Could we go into your apartment for a few minutes and talk? I take it your dad’s not home since he didn’t answer.”
“Sure.” Brandon picked up speed, making it to the door and opening it as he continued, “He’s not here. I think they’re getting ready for a meeting or something.”
Cassidy nodded, following him into the familiar apartment that seemed foreign somehow all of a sudden. She remembered Aaron saying they would be having a meeting after she left. Not wanting to sit in the same spot she always did when things between them had been just fine, despite the fact that she’d sat there the night before and spent hours sleeping on his lap on the sofa, she sat down on the edge of Elliott’s recliner, across from Brandon, and tried to decide exactly what it was she was there to confess.
He was already sitting when he realized he was being impolite. “Can I get you a Dr. Pepper or something? Are you hungry?”
“I’m fine, thanks.” Cassidy found a meager smile. She cleared her throat and searched for where to begin but came up empty. “I’m not even sure what it is I want to say.”
“That’s okay. Take your time. I’ve got nothing going on.” He smiled at her and leaned back, as if he were chilling out. She could tell how wound up he was despite his words. His knee was shaking, and he kept repositioning his arms on the armrest and the back of the couch.
Cassidy took a deep breath, sighed, opened her mouth, and then closed it. She cleared her throat again. “Can I have some water?”
“Sure.” Brandon was up and back from the kitchen with a cold bottle of water in less than a second. He offered it to her, and she took it, twisting off the lid and thanking him before she took a drink, letting the water wash the stickiness off of her tongue.
He sat back down, still nervous but trying to appear as if he wasn’t. Cass put the lid back on and set the bottle by her shoe. “So... there’s something I need to tell you. I made a promise I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I’m not sure why I feel like I need to tell you this now when it doesn’t matter anyway, but I do.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter now anyway?” Brandon’s voice was soft and slow. She imagined he was conjuring up all sorts of scenarios that were far worse than what she actually needed to tell him.
Running a hand through her hair, she decided to just spit it out. “Christian came to me the day after that meeting I had with Hannah and the others about Daunator, when Aaron and Cadence were still gone.” He nodded, and she was sure he knew what she was talking about. “He said he had a plan, and he wanted my help.”
Brandon’s head shifted slightly sideways. “Why would he want your help? You’d just ripped his face off.”
“I know. That’s what I said to him. But he knew I was the only one who could do what he needed to be done. Except for Heather, but she wouldn’t be as reliable, and there was a chance she wouldn’t want to do it anyway. For some reason, he also thought I’d be less likely to tell my sister or Aaron.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know. But he knew how desperate I was to do something to stop Daunator, so when he told me his plan, I decided to go along with it.”
“Daunator?” Brandon echoed, leaning forward slightly, his forehead wrinkling. “What do you mean?”
“Christian went after Daunator. By himself. He needed me to help him with some information about who might be working with Daunator and to try to help him find the monster. He also wanted me to get into Daunator’s head, but I can’t really do that. Anyway, Christian swore me to secrecy because he didn’t want anyone to know what he was up to.” She stopped talking, not sure if he was following or not. The look on his face hadn’t changed since he’d asked her what she meant.
It took Brandon a few long moments to ask, “You were helping Christian?”
“I am helping Christian. And I know that my sister knows I’ve been helping him, but I haven’t told her I know where he is yet. She knows I know where he is. And she probably knows where he is because I think she was going to have Heather find him. But... yeah, I agreed to help him. I wanted to be involved.” He was nodding slowly, and she could’ve stopped there. “But that’s not the only reason why.”
Brandon’s head shifted to the left so that it was crooked. He peered at her intently, but his mouth didn’t move. She could only imagine where his mind might be going, and the thought made her sick to her stomach.
“Seriously, Brandon. It’s Christian.”
“Right. What is it then?”
His head was still sideways but at least he didn’t seem to think she had romantic feelings for the man who infuriated her anymore. “I accidentally got in his head, and I saw this woman.... She was beautiful. But his feelings for her were so... messed up. Like he loved her and hated her. I didn’t probe deeply because I wasn’t trying to get information out of him. I’ve asked him a few times about her, but he won’t say. All I know is, I think she’s the reason he’s such a psycho.”
“Sounds tragic,” Brandon muttered. He leaned back on the couch. “What does that have to do with helping him, though?”
“I’m not sure. It’s related to Daunator in a way I can’t quite figure out. The other night, before he left, I had coffee with Christian...”
“I know.”
Now it was her turn to stare, wordlessly.
“I didn’t mean to see you, but I did. I wasn’t spying on you or anything,” he clarified.
She’d have to accept that. “Anyway... he was saying all kinds of weird shit about how he knows Daunator better than anyone, and he thinks Daunator came through the Blue Moon Portal. I think it’s all related somehow, but I can’t piece it together. Christian... is an enigma. And for the most part, I’ve just tried to ignore him, but now, I’ve sort of started to try to put him together. For some reason, he thinks Daunator can’t kill him.”
“Yeah, well, Christian is a Guardian, and Daunator is a Vampire, so why should he be able to?”
“You remember what Schmitz said, though, right? That he’d heard Daunator could kill anyone?”
“I remember that, but Schmitz isn’t exactly the most normal person I’ve ever met.”
“No, I realize that. But... when I asked Christian if he just didn’t think that Daunator could kill any Guardians or just not him, he differentiated his answer. Of course, he said he didn’t think Daunator could kill Guardians, but he seemed to be saying, even if the Vampire had figured out how to kill Guardians, he couldn’t kill Christian.”
Brandon looked as lost as Cassidy felt. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know. But I hope he’s right because he’s in a world of hurt right now. None of his weapons are working on the monster, and Daunator has him stuck in a literal hole in the ground, deep inside the mountain. And he’s not the only one. There are a whole bunch of those missing people there, too. Daunator’s turning them into those black creatures Eliza fought off the other night.” She could only assume he’d seen the video that was going around.
Once again, Brandon was lost. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Cass. The last few days, my dad’s been about the only person I’ve talked to, and it hasn’t been about work. I had only been at Dax’s for a few minutes when I heard you in the hallway.”
“Why is that?” Cass was worried. She’d just assumed he’d been up to his usual routine.
Brandon shrugged. “I didn’t want to hog our friends, and I didn’t want to make them choose between us.”
A small smile pulled up at the corners of her mouth. “Well, Monica is my sister.”
The sound of his chuckle melted her heart a little more than she wanted to admit, even to herself. “You don’t look like Ross Geller.”
Cassidy reached up and scrunched the hair above her forehead. “My hair isn’t crunchy either.”
He laughed again, and she joined in, glad a sitcom, mostly from before they were born, could give them something to bond over. “Thank you for filling me in, Cass. It sounds like I’m missing out on a lot of information still, but at least I know what you’ve been up to. It must’ve been stressful for you, trying to keep Christian’s secret when you knew it would be better for both of you if you got him some help. I can imagine that must’ve been very distracting.”
“It was, Brandon, but if I’m going to be completely honest with you, I have to say, that wasn’t the only problem.” She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, watching his face morph again. The nerves that had been there when she first spotted him in the hallway were back. If she knew what was good for her, she would’ve stopped talking after she agreed with him, but clearing the air completely seemed like a better idea than keeping everything bottled inside.
“There’s more?” he asked, slowly. The color slowly drained from his face.
Once again, the right words evaded her. She looked around the room for a minute, not sure why tears were suddenly stinging her eyes, but they were there just the same. She pulled her bottle of water up off the floor with her powers and took a drink. It didn’t help. How could she find the words to express herself to Brandon when she couldn’t even articulate how she was feeling to herself?