Chapter 46

Realizing she needed to address Eliza positively to have any chance of getting her to consent, and understanding that her husband would not act without her blessing, she turned to the wife. “Eliza, you know this area well. I remember my parents talking about how fierce you were at hand-to-hand combat, how you single handedly took out a group of Vampires while searching for Daunator that most people would’ve ran from. Someone with your experience would be welcome on our team, especially since I’m leading it--and I don’t have any idea what the hell I’m doing.”
Zane finally spoke up as their hosts chuckled nervously at Jo’s admission. “That’s not true,” he said, shaking his head at her.
Jo shrugged. It seemed about right to her. “Anyway, if the two of you would consider joining us, in any capacity, I would be eternally grateful.”
“And the rest of your team?” Eliza asked, leaning back in her chair. “Do they feel the same?”
“Not all of them,” Jo said quickly enough. “But that’s okay. Most of them aren’t comfortable with me either.”
The couple exchanged looks again. It was clear Lucas was more open to the idea of helping them out than Eliza was. Jo could relate. How much convincing had it taken for her to decide to come along for the ride? A lot.
Eventually, Lucas addressed them again. “We will take the night to discuss your proposal and get back to you tomorrow.”
If these two were human, that wouldn’t give them much time, considering the current time and the fact that most people needed to sleep at some point during the night, but since neither of these creatures were human and needed much rest, Jo had to accept that they would, in fact, discuss her proposition and then let her know the next day. She and Zane had planned on going back to the hotel where the rest of the team was staying that night, so they’d have to make other arrangements. Jo had envisioned them driving straight through, a discussion through her IAC with Cass and Brandon about how they had also struck out filling most of her time. Now, she’d have to wait until the next day to tell them she could fail with the best of them.
With Lucas’s comment, they all rose. “Thanks so much for your time,” Jo said, extending her hand to him as he flew across the room in a quick, easy manner that reminded her of her aunt floating on air.
“Of course. It was lovely to meet you.” Lucas shook her hand and said it as if he truly meant it. Then, he turned to Zane. “Thanks again for stopping by.”
Zane took the outstretched hand, saying some other nicety, and the two men led the way to the door as Jo thanked Eliza for listening.
The women hung back a little. Jo hadn’t intended for it to be that way, but it seemed clear Eliza had some things she wanted to say to Jo away from her husband’s ears. Maybe away from Zane, too. So Jo set her pace at the unnaturally slow gait the Guardian was crawling at. As they walked along, Jo thought of a million conversation starters that all seemed wrong, like, “So… you used to fuck my dad, huh?” or “I guess you hated my mom for permanently stealing your boyfriend?”
They were about halfway down the hall to the front door when Eliza finally spoke. “So how is it really going?”
Raising an eyebrow, Jo looked at her for a moment before she said, “Shitty.”
That got a giggle out of Eliza that made her seem a quarter of her age. “God, there are some real assholes on that team. No offense to anyone you happen to like….”
“There aren’t many of them I like, actually.” Jo was being honest, despite the fact that she had no reason to count Eliza as a person she could confide in. When she thought about her teammates, most of them were merely tolerable. Even her family members seemed like aliens to her most of the time.
“I know what you mean,” Eliza said, as if it hadn’t been her comment that had caused Jo’s. “I did want to tell you, though…. When I heard about the situation with your mom, I felt really terrible for your family. Cadence was a force of nature, the kind of person who is bound to make other women jealous. We had been friends at first before… I let that emotion overtake me.”
Jo looked at her for a second, not sure how to respond. Eliza made it seem like she wasn’t the only one who had a problem with her mom. Who else could she be talking about? Did it even matter? She definitely didn’t want to say anything about the day her mom died--the second time. So she said nothing, only nodded.
“I was married to Lucas by then, so I was already blacklisted by just about everyone.” Eliza took a few more steps, her hands folded in front of her so that she could twirl the ring on her hand. “Not by your dad, though. If anything, my marriage made it so that he could tolerate me again. It was as if he finally had the assurance that I wouldn’t be chasing after him anymore.”
The manner in which she made the statement had Jo nearly stopping. They had reached the porch, and Zane and Lucas were standing near the Jeep, talking. Jo followed Eliza down the steps but then, when the Guardian stopped at the bottom, she stopped, too. “There’s a lot of history I don’t know,” Jo admitted.
“That’s probably for the best,” Eliza said. “I will admit, most of what people say about me is true. I was a hard assed bitch. I did try to trap Aaron, more than once. I was involved in the Sierraville plan, though I had no idea Laura actually wanted to kill my teammates. I wasn’t sorry when Elliott died, but if anything would’ve happened to your dad….” She stopped talking and shook her head. For a moment, Jo expected tears, but it was either too far in the past for that, or Eliza wasn’t the kind of hard assed bitch who produced tears. “When I watched your mom fall off of that mountain, I wasn’t happy--but I was relieved. I remember thinking, ‘This is it. My last chance.’ Then, when Jamie brought her back to life, I wasn’t particularly happy about that either. But I wasn’t angry. And then, when they told us about you and Cadon, well, I couldn’t be upset about that. Anyway, it seems like Lucas wants to do this, that he misses the old days when he and his comrades got to take on their dark counterparts. But you have to know, if I join you, there will be problems. Those people know a version of me that doesn’t exist anymore. But I’m still a hard ass bitch.”
Eliza’s last statement had Jo snickering. She wasn’t sure what to think about that part in the middle, about her being glad that her mom had been dead for a few minutes. She certainly didn’t like the notion that Eliza hadn’t minded when Elliott had died. He might be a weirdo, but she still loved him. Nevertheless, there was something about her tone, something about her plight, that made Jo feel as if she could relate to this woman--not who she was before, but just the notion that she was also an outsider, and that’s how Jo had felt since the moment she Transformed. “I understand that,” was all she could say in response to Eliza’s confession.
“Good. That’s important.”
“We’ll figure out a way to make it work.”
Eliza nodded, dropping her eyes for a second before lifting them to take in her husband, who despite still being in full conversation with Zane, paused to wink at her. It certainly seemed like these two creatures, meant by nature to be opposites, had fallen in love and found a way to carve out a life for themselves.
“One more thing,” Eliza said before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, her eyes on Jo now. “I just wanted to tell you… I don’t know the details of what happened to your mom that day, when you were with her, when she disappeared. But… if anyone in the world could manage to escape an attack that left that sort of aftermath, could navigate the portals and whatever else exists out there, and manage to stay alive… it’s your mom.”
Jo hadn’t been expecting that. The urge to argue that she didn’t think anyone could do those things stayed trapped in her throat. Instead, she only said, “Thank you.”
“Also, if anyone in the world is capable of figuring out what happened, and where she is now, it’s your dad. Don’t give up on her just yet, okay? You look so much like her. Except for your eyes. That’s all Aaron.” Eliza’s mouth formed into a crooked grin, and she actually chuckled again before she reached out and squeezed Jo’s arm and then headed back into the house.
Jo quietly said, “Good night,” not even sure if Eliza heard her, and then stood there for a few moments more before she headed for the Jeep. Lucas bid them both goodnight and patted her shoulder before following Eliza back inside.
The brigade of Vampire defenders was back to escort them to the gates, which gave Jo a few moments to sit in the passenger seat and consider everything Eliza had just said before she’d have to regurgitate it to Zane--if she even could. The meeting hadn’t gone anything like she had expected, but she was glad she’d come.