Eliza had stayed off of IAC as long as she could, but after Elliott and Cadence had been gone for a couple of hours, she began to realize something had to have gone amiss. Either Elliott hadn't been able to keep her in the car, or he had intentionally set her up to go after Barbarosa. As much as she didn't want to see Cadence get hurt, she was just a bit curious to see what would happen when the superhuman Vampire Hunter went up against the seasoned bloodsucker.
Hannah had mentioned contacting Aaron and letting him alert whoever was in the area to offer backup. But Eliza was pretty sure she had talked the blond out of that plan. All that would do, in Eliza's opinion, was complicated matters. If Cadence wasn't sure who her backup was and who was on the side of the evil Barbarosa, someone could unintentionally end up getting hurt, or worse. No, in Eliza's opinion, it was best to just let it be. Elliott would either talk her out of it, protect her, or deal with the consequences.
And ugly as it sounded, that would solve a personal problem for Eliza.
That idea to let the two operate uninterrupted had lasted for most of the time that they were gone, but at about 2:30 AM, curiosity got the best of Eliza, and she finally decided to contact Elliott and see how it was going. "Where are you guys?" she asked, using the IAC.
"On our way back," Elliott replied. He had just reached the outskirts of Lincoln, Cadence asleep beside him in the passenger seat.
"How's Cadence?" Eliza asked, a bit hesitant to ask in case something had happened, though she figured Elliott would tell her if that were the case.
"Sleeping," he replied shortly.
"And Barbarosa?" Eliza asked, despite her earlier thoughts, genuinely relieved that Cadence was also safe.
"Also sleeping," he said at first and then added, "for a very, very long time."
Eliza was shocked. "She got him?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Unbelievable," Eliza replied.
"We speak of this to no one--and I mean no one," Elliott implored, hoping she understood exactly what he meant.
Eliza hesitated to reply. Of course, she felt Aaron deserved to know. Rather than agree, she said simply, "Word will get out, you know."
"I know," he admitted. "But not from you."
Eliza said nothing, just sat back on the couch. The situation was a difficult one. Anyone who knew her could tell that she still had feelings for Aaron. She had been very hopeful that they would be able to mend their relationship and thought they were headed in that direction, until Cadence entered the picture. Though Eliza thought of Cadence as a friend and had a great deal of respect for her, she couldn't let her opinion of the girl interfere with her plan to get back together with Aaron. Eliza had a few tricks up her sleeve, a few talents few others were aware of. So far, nothing she had tried recently had been successful. But she was not the type to give up so easily. Cadence was a force to be reckoned with, and Eliza realized she was going to have to get really creative if she was going to stop this Hunter from tracking her prey.
* * *
When Elliott pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the hotel, the sudden stop of motion jarred Cadence awake. Blinking, she turned to look at him, not quite remembering where she should be.
"You awake?" he said softly in his gruff voice.
"Barely," she replied, still rubbing her eyes. "That was quick."
"I actually drove the speed limit," Elliott replied, "Well, sort of. Maybe five or ten over."
Cadence groggily pushed the door open, not wanting to wake up completely. It would be easier to go back to sleep once her head hit the pillow if she could keep at least part of her mind in dreamland. But the noises from the street and the lights of the lobby brought her almost fully awake. Upon reaching room 456, Elliott used his keycard and pushed the door open. Cadence was vaguely aware that Eliza and Hannah were sitting on the couch, expressions of anticipation on their faces. She waved in their general direction and then headed for the bedroom door, managing to kick of her boots and shrug out of her coat before collapsing on top of the blankets. Thoughts of showering had entered her mind; she probably had some Vampire goo on her still from where Barbarosa had wrapped his hands around her throat, but she was too tired. Within a few minutes, she was back in dreamland, oblivious to the world.
Elliott joined the ladies in the living area. Neither of them said anything to him at first, just stared, waiting for him to speak. It seemed a bit like a game to him, a standoff, and so he countered their stares with one of his own, intending to see who would break first. Of course, he wasn't too surprised that it was Eliza.
"Well?" she asked, her unusually high-pitched voice even more so in her excitement. "Aren't you going to tell us what happened?"
"There's really not too much to tell," Elliott said nonchalantly. "We got there, she took off before I could stop her, and the next thing I know, she's in his house. I decided to cut him off from the back exit, trapped him, and she shot him. The end."
Eliza looked at him skeptically while Hannah's expression was more of shock. "The end?" Eliza asked. "Really? That's all?"
"Pretty much," Elliott replied. He took his phone out of his pocket and opened up a social networking site, scrolling through it as if nothing exciting had ever happened.
The women looked at each other with questioning expressions, not sure what to say. It seemed fairly apparent that Elliott was done with his explanation. Finally, Hannah said, "Well, I guess you're both very lucky that nothing horrible happened."
"Oh, something horrible happened," Elliott mumbled, "just not to us."
Hannah sighed, shaking her head. "What do you think Aaron is going to have to say about this?" she inquired with a motherly tone.
Without looking up, Elliott replied, "Why would he ever need to know?"
"You can't be serious," Eliza said, shifting herself in her seat so that her foot was under her. "You know he'll find out. He knows everything."
"Who do you think is going to tell him?" Elliott asked, setting his phone down on the armrest. "It's not like Barbarosa has a bunch of friends. He's a hermit. I'm not saying anything; Cadence won't say anything. So, unless one of you takes it upon yourself to enlighten him, there's really no way for him to know, until he just realizes one day, many years from now, that Barbarosa hasn't reared his ugly head in a while. At which point, I will be happy to fill him in, and we can all have a chuckle."
"He'll know," Eliza repeated quietly. "He always knows."
