Eliza Wrath was enjoying her new gig as Leader of the San Francisco Area. It was a pretty easy job. San Fran had its share of Vampires, but most of them had the same relaxed attitude as the humans, and the ratio of Rogues to Compliants was relatively low. Every once in a while she'd have to organize a hunt, but she had a very experienced team, and much of what she did involved nothing more than calling in various members. She actually had a Hunter Leader, as well, something most Guardians couldn't count on anymore, and Daniel had been doing his job so long, he didn't seem to mind making most of the calls. Ultimately, she had all of the power, and none of the work. For her, it was a win-win. She spent a lot of time in her office pretending to look busy while she shopped online.
She was about to hit "purchase" on a rather large order on the Neiman Marcus website, which was going straight to her expense account, when her cell phone rang. She looked at it oddly--since she had the IAC, she mostly just used it to play games--and glanced at the number; it was blocked. Assuming it was probably a wrong number or a telemarketer, she considered not answering. But curiosity got the better of her, and she answered on the fifth ring. "Hello?" she asked cautiously.
"I know where he's at," the voice on the other end said very assuredly.
Eliza pulled the phone away from her ear and glanced at it, as if that would give her some sort of a clue as to who she was talking to and what she was talking about. "What?" she asked, putting it back to her ear. "Who is this?"
"You know who it is, and you know who I mean. I want to work with you. But only you. He's in your territory. I can't talk any longer right now, but I'll give you a call this afternoon."
The phone call dropped, and Eliza was left bewildered. Again, she glanced at her phone, which was of little use. "What the hell?" she asked, shaking her head and running her fingers through her now shorter, but still burgundy, hair. Still talking aloud to herself, she wondered, "Who is in my territory? Who was that?" and then, suddenly it hit her. "Laura!"
* * *
Cadence returned to her hotel room, extended their reservations for a few more nights since they now had plans, and attempted to contact Elliott--who was in a meeting, much to her chagrin. So she gave her Grandma Janette a quick call in the meantime.
"Darling, I just thought it might seem odd for you, if you realized how long he has really known you. I'm glad you know now, though. I think it's important that you discover all of these little things a bit at a time. Learning everything all at once can be so overwhelming," Janette had explained.
"But Grandma, that's important. It's no wonder he's been so confused about me. It's gotta be a little... odd," Cadence replied.
"I don't think so, honey. Your Grandpa was much older than me," Janette began.
"But did he know you when you were in diapers? Oh, God, Aaron never changed my diaper or anything did he?" she asked, the very thought causing her to almost hyperventilate.
Janette laughed. "No, honey, nothing like that. He never had much contact with you. It's not like he was physically there every moment of every day either. He still had an entire world-wide operation to run. He just checked on you frequently. Until you were about fifteen. That's when he asked me if I would mind if he assigned someone else to your direct observation. I thought it was strange, but I assumed he was just too busy with everything else to do it himself. Of course, I agreed, and so he didn't see you at all for years--until the festival."
Cadence listened carefully. She was surprised by that last bit, as Aaron hadn't mentioned it to her. "So, when I was in high school, he wasn't around?"
"No, I think you were a freshman when he stepped back," she confirmed.
That made sense to her. When she had run into him at the Eidolon Festival, he seemed to know who she was, but there was also an air of unfamiliarity. That raised a different question. "Who took over?" she asked.
Janette let out a sigh. "Cadence, darling, don't you already know?"
"No," Cadence replied almost immediately. "How in the world would I know?"
"Use your powers of introspection, dear. I think, subconsciously, you probably do know. You can likely recall a lot about your past that seems out of place now, if you stop and think about it," was her grandmother's reply.
"Did I ever see this person?" Cadence asked, both confused but willing to give it a try.
"I'm sure you did at one point or another. It would have been nearly impossible for her to be around so frequently for all of those years and never fall within your careful gaze."
Cadence was quiet for a moment, thinking. Grandma had said, "her," and she wasn't sure if that was clue or a slip up. She wondered back to her days in high school, mentally searching the faces in the crowds at sporting events, graduation, even movies and trips to the mall. If the information was in there, maybe she could pull it out. Nothing--no one--was coming to mind. Then, just when she was about to give up, she realized who it was! As if her brain really was a giant computer, scanning files for facial recognition, it was able to compile enough information to answer her question. "Hannah..." she whispered.
"See, I knew you could do it," her grandmother replied.
"But how?" Cadence asked. "How did I know that?"
"Sweetheart, everyone's brain remembers everything. You just have to be able to access it. Yours works much more efficiently than other people's now. So, you should be able to pull memories back more quickly. "
"Remarkable," she said under her breath. "It's no wonder I feel like I've known her for years..."
"Hey, kid, you got a minute?"
It was Elliott, and she'd been waiting to talk to him for hours. "Grandma, I've gotta go. I love you! I'll talk to you soon."
"Goodbye, darling. I love, you, too," Janette said before disconnecting the call.
"Hey! A little heads up mighta been nice--friend," she said, only half-joking.
"He didn't tell me," Elliott replied, sounding sincere.
"Really?" she asked, both shocked and suspicious. "He just left the state without mentioning where he was going to you or anyone else?"
"If he mentioned it to anyone else, they didn't tell me. I was just as shocked as you were, I swear."
Cadence believed him. "All right, you're off the hook for that one, but I have another question for you, and you won't be able to dodge this one quite so easily, bro."
Elliott sighed. "What's that?"
"Surely you were aware of the fifteen years of close observations?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Oh, that," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "Well, yeah, I kinda knew about that. And that's one of the main reasons why I really didn't like you at first--I mean, I thought perhaps his judgment was clouded by all of that--but yeah. He was watching you for a while... a little while."
"And you failed to mention this to me because...?"
"Oh, come on, kid," he shot back at her. "Since when is it my place to tell you shit like that? He's gotta tell his own story, man, you know? I'm not his freaking babysitter--if you haven't noticed."
"Oh, I've noticed. He doesn't have one of those--he needs one. You should have seen him last night. I felt so sorry for Cale.... He promised he wouldn't interfere, and then that's all he did."
"Now that I know. He told me about that. He talked to Cale earlier today and apologized. I think it's fine. Besides, you got the marks, right?" he reminded her.
"Yes," she admitted. And she and Aaron had taken them all out with little to no help from anyone else. Still, she was feeling pretty bad for her new friend. "He's a good guy, Elliott," she sighed. "He didn't deserve to be treated that way."
"I'm assuming you mean Cale, then?"
"Uh, yeah..."
"Does someone have a little crush on Mr. Hollywood?"
"Oh, stop. Maybe. A little," she finally admitted out loud for the first time to anyone, including herself.
"That complicates things a little bit, then, doesn't it?" he asked.
"Hey, he broke up with me, I'll remind you!" she replied.
"I know. I was there. I got the T-shirt for that one, kid. My point isn't that Aaron doesn't deserve for you to date someone else, my concern is for the good doctor. What's gonna happen when you and the boss man remember you were put on this Earth for each other? What happens to GQ then, hmm?"
"You sound very sure of yourself, Elliott. I'm not..." she paused for a moment, not sure she wanted to say what she was thinking. "I'm not convinced we're ever going to sort this out."
"Well, I am. I told you, if it's the last thing I do. Not that I'm planning on cashin' my check any time soon. But y'all will figure it out. I know you will. So, just keep that in mind before you go fillin' out your dance card," he stated matter-of-factly.
She laughed. "You just hit about three centuries worth of slang there. Fine. I will keep that in mind, "she said dismissively. "Anything else going on?"
"Yeah, actually, a couple of things. We figured out that bullet had some sort of titanium amalgam in it and where it came from. So, Christian is trying to replicate it, and stop any further shipments," he explained to her.
"Wow," Cadence said, leaning back on her bed in a more relaxed state. "That's interesting. How did Laura get ahold of it?"
"Her uncle, I guess," he replied. "And, you'll never guess who she called today."
"Laura?" Cadence asked. She was more shocked to hear that she had called anyone. "I have no idea..."
"Eliza," he replied bluntly.
Cadence caught her breath. "What? Why? What did she say? Why would she call her of all people?
"I don't know. I was in Aaron's office when Eliza came through on the IAC and reported it. She says Laura claims that she knows where Giovani is and that he's in her area. Said she'd call her back later today. But then, Aaron got a couple of calls from other Hunters and Guardians reporting him, too. So, we're working on it, but it sounds like he may be back in the country."
Cadence didn't know what to say. She had been contemplating the idea of dropping everything and tracking either of those parties for most of the time she'd been on the road. Now, to hear they'd both popped up at the same time seemed remarkable. But then another thought occurred to her. "But why would she want our help now? She didn't want it for a decade before."
"That's a great question, and we don't know. She asked for Eliza's help and no one else's. But she's gonna ask her when she calls back," he assured her.
"Is Aaron going to be in on that?" she asked.
"Absolutely."
