Jack Cook stumbled through the front door, careful not to wake his parents, who probably wouldn’t be up for another hour or two, and headed for his bedroom. He was exhausted, but thoughts of what had transpired that night flooded his mind.

It was quite evident as he carried Drew’s body into the emergency room that there was nothing the doctors could do for her. When the hospital staff began asking questions about what had happened, Jack didn’t know exactly how to respond, nor did any of the rest of Drew's friends. Luckily, their good friend Elliott showed up shortly after they arrived at Shenandoah Medical Center, and he was able to explain the tragic accident that had resulted in Drew’s death. He carefully explained how she had been rock climbing early that morning and slipped on a loose rock. Her friends had been nearby, but when they reached her, they could easily see that Drew had a gaping gash in her neck. Elliott explained to the doctors and nurses how her friends had tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too late.

Jack recalled Elliott’s precise words as he explained to the distraught group of friends what had taken place. “Drew died. It’s sad, but it’s just one of those things that happen.”

Of course, they had all agreed; it had been a tragic accident. When Elliott explained it, it just seemed to make perfect sense. There was no reason to question what had happened, no reason to think anything bizarre or unusual had occurred. They had all been rock climbing; that was true, even though glancing down at his feet, Jack thought he wouldn’t generally wear these shoes while climbing. Drew had gotten ahead of them, also true. She just fell. They were all very sad to see her go, but this is the sort of thing that happens sometimes. They all needed to accept what they knew to be true.

Jack reached his bedroom and flung himself down on his bed without even taking his shoes off. The sun was rising and rays of light jutted through his curtains. He thought back to the heart-wrenching scene at the hospital when Drew’s parents had arrived. They were both hysterical. But Elliott had been there for them as well, and he explained to them what happened in a way that they could accept and understand. Elliott and Drew had been friends for so long that Drew’s parents trusted him and believed what he had to say. They were so very sad to lose their daughter, but they understood that sometimes tragedies happen, and we just have to accept them and move forward.

With a sigh, Jack pulled himself up off of his bed and slipped out of his jacket. He mumbled to himself, “We shouldn’t go rock climbing in the middle of the night anymore. It’s too dangerous.” As he went to hang his jacket on his coat rack, he noticed a small tear in the left shoulder. “I must have fallen, too,” he thought. He rubbed his shoulder absently, realizing there was also a small tear in his shirt. His shoulder didn’t hurt, and he was too tired to investigate so he decided to go to sleep. When he awoke, he knew he would feel much better. Elliott had told him so.

Kicking out of his shoes, he pulled down the blankets and dropped into bed certain that everything would be better soon.

* * *

Cadence felt someone gently shaking her arm. She knew she was in a car, but that was the only memory that would cooperate. “Cadence, we’re here,” she heard an unfamiliar voice say quietly, and Cadence realized the car was no longer moving.

It felt like she’d only been asleep for a minute. Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Cadence sat up and tried to remember where she was going and who she was with. At first, the memories that popped into her head seemed so ridiculous that she thought they had to be fragments of a dream. The sound of a motorcycle pulling in behind them, as well as the realization that she was sitting in an extremely expensive sports car, were firm reminders that she was, in fact, recalling what had happened correctly. Unpleasant images came next; Vampires had attacked them, and somehow, she’d managed to decapitate one of them before fleeing with the assistance of a group of some sort of warriors who called themselves Guardians.

Those thoughts were not nearly as difficult to digest as her next one. Why had she killed that vampire? He had been hurting her friend. He’d taken Drew. Cadence remembered reacting with no thought at all and throwing herself at the dark haired man, ripping his head off of his body in retaliation. Because he’d killed her friend.

Drew was dead.

And now she wished she hadn’t followed that chain of thought quite so far.

The door next to her popped open. “Come on; let’s go,” Eliza exclaimed. Cadence looked over her shoulder. She hadn’t even seen the woman get out of the car.

Eliza grabbed ahold of her arm and practically dragged her out of her seat.

Grumbling in protest, Cadence asked, “How can you be so chipper after having been up all night?” with another yawn.

“We’ll explain all of that,” Eliza said, smiling. “Be happy! It’s finally time to learn everything!”

The tone of her voice seemed to grate off of Cadence’s brain, but she was glad she’d finally have some answers. She staggered out of the way so Eliza could grab her bag and closed the door.

Cadence saw Jamie standing near the trunk of the car and absently waved at him. He smiled in return, but he didn’t appear to be nearly as energetic as his partner. With a sigh, Cadence allowed Eliza to loop her black clad arm through her own and turned around.

For the first time, Cadence looked up and realized where she was. “Holy hell,” she muttered, “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

The Queen Anne with the buttercream paint and white gingerbread trim was quite familiar. They were standing in the driveway at her grandmother’s house.