Hurrying downstairs, she braced herself for the conversation she was going to have to have now. Her grandmother was already at the stove, humming happily as she danced around the kitchen to Toby Keith singing about America. Her strawberry blonde hair had been pulled into a ponytail that bounced against her shoulders. She was a small woman, barely five foot, but she was slender with an athletic, fluid grace.
She turned to Cassie, her beautiful face lit up as her sky blue eyes landed upon her. The lines around her eyes crinkled merrily as she slid a bowl of oatmeal to Cassie. “Brown sugar and crème, the way you like it.”
“Thanks grandma.” Cassie took the bowl, but she did not sit, or grab hold of the spoon. This was a conversation she was certain would turn into a battle, but it was inevitable; she had to warn her grandma, she could not leave her unprepared, and vulnerable. She returned to singing merrily as Montgomery Gentry came over the radio. “Grandma, we need to talk.”
Her grandmother turned back to her, the merry smile slipped from her face. Her light eyebrows drew sharply together over the bridge of her delicate nose. Her eyes darkened, going from sky blue to deep brown in an instant. Cassie was not unnerved; she was used to this trait of her grandma’s. Though some people thought it was a genetic flaw, it was in fact what happened when her grandmother reached out to her spirit friends, communing amongst them.
Cassie sighed and plopped onto the stool. Sometimes her grandma would talk to her spirits for long periods of time, even forgetting that other people were present. Cassie played with her oatmeal as she waited. Though the three spirits that visited her grandma had become her grandma’s friends over the years, her grandma had never known them in life, and she had never been visited by someone that she had known. Sometimes through her three “friends”, her grandma was able to communicate with other people’s loved ones, but never her own.
Cassie found it a cruel twist of fate for her grandmother to have her husband, and her daughter ripped away from her, but never be able to speak with them again. Cassie’s grandfather had been killed three years before her mother; he had lost a battle to a vampire. Just like they all would. Her grandmother did not think it was cruel. She had once told Cassie that it would have been more painful if she had been able to speak with her loved ones.
“Something has come to town,” she said softly.
Cassie dropped the spoon; she focused on her grandma’s once more blue eyes. This time however there was no humor in them, but a grave sadness. Though she spoke often with her “friends” they were never able to tell her anything that might impact the course of her fate, or Cassie’s. Telling her grandmother that something had come to town was their vague, roundabout way of trying to warn her of the danger that had arrived.
“Yes,” Cassie answered. Sliding off her stool, she rested her hand on the countertop. “Luther believes that there is an Elder here.”
Terror flashed across her grandmother’s delicate features. She took a small step forward before leaning back against the counter. Cassie reached for her, afraid that her grandmother was going to collapse. Then, she straightened her delicate shoulders and stepped away from the counter. “Does it know that you are here?”
“I don’t know, but it looks that way,” Cassie answered honestly.
“You cannot stay here. You must leave. All three of you must get somewhere safe.”
Cassie had known that this was coming, and she had been dreading it, but she had not changed her mind. In fact, after last night, she was more convinced than ever that she could not leave. She would not let the town go unprotected, and she could never leave Devon unprotected. Taking a deep breath, Cassie braced herself for the battle that was about to ensue.
“No grandma, we aren’t going anywhere.”
Her grandmother’s mouth dropped. “What do you mean you aren’t going anywhere?” she demanded fiercely.
“We can’t abandon this town, we cannot leave everyone to face this danger alone, and unprotected. The Hunter’s were made to protect innocent people; it’s what we were created for. We have been prepped for our shortened life spans, for the threat of death that constantly overhangs us. We cannot simply run because this may be a difficult time.”
Her grandmother stared at her in startled disbelief. “May be difficult? May be difficult?” Cassie winced at her grandma’s hysterical tone and the raw panic in her voice. “Cassie, if this thing finds you, if it figures out what you are, it will kill you! There is no difficulty in that!”
“Grandma…”
“Don’t you grandma me! You get up those stairs and get your bags packed, now! I have lost my husband, my daughter, and my son-in-law to these monsters! I will not lose my granddaughter!”
Cassie’s heart ached for her, and the losses that she had experienced, but she couldn’t back down. No matter how much she hated the anguish in her grandmother’s eyes, she could not leave this town. “You wouldn’t leave if it were you grandma. Think of all of the innocent people that will lose their lives if we do.”
Her grandmother’s eyes flashed brown for a brief moment before she focused her full attention on Cassie again. “I left with you. I left innocent’s behind then.”
A knife twisted in Cassie’s chest. She could not argue with that. She had given up everything for Cassie, and now, when her grandmother desperately wanted her to, Cassie could not return the favor. That fact was killing her, but she couldn’t back down, she simply couldn’t.
“I’m only telling you about this so that you are aware of the danger, and you can stay safe.”
“Cassandra…”
Before she could finish the sentence, Cassie stepped forward and hugged her tightly. Tears slid silently down her face as she clung to her grandmother’s slight frame. “I’m sorry grandma, you know I would do anything for you, but I can’t do this. You know that this is right; you know that we cannot leave them. I know that you are scared for me, I am scared, but we must stay.”
Her grandmother shuddered, her head dropped to Cassie’s shoulder. “You will be safer, more aware out there.”
“Always,” Cassie vowed.
Her grandmother squeezed her tight and pulled quickly away. Her bright eyes shimmered with tears, but her cheeks remained dry as she met Cassie’s gaze again. “My brave girl, just like your mom.”
A cold chill went through Cassie. She had been told she was just like her mother her whole life. She looked like her mother, she moved like her mother, and she acted like her mother. The only difference was that Cassie was not gifted and her mother had possessed the powerful ability to move objects with her mind. Cassie didn’t mind looking and acting like her mother. She did not, however, want to die young like her mother. Yet, right now, her life seemed to be heading along that same path. Only she would be seven years younger than her mother’s twenty four when she died.