Ohana means family

[Izzy Helm (DELETED 11353)]

The sun had just began to duck below the horizon when Izzy left the terminal. The night air was crisp and she was glad she had decided to wear her jacketHer excitement and sense of adventure and long since faded and turned to exhaustion. She stared off at the empty street for a long moment before flagging down a taxi and giving the driver the address to her hotel. She stared out the window watching the city streets pass her. Harper Rock. Up until a few days ago she had never even heard of the place. The internet had painted a mixed picture and she wondered if the rumors were true.

She tapped her foot repeatedly the more she thought about the whole situation. She had come to Harper Rock with the singular purpose of finding her missing brother. Three years ago she had been in a dark place. On top of loosing her leg she had lost all sense of purpose. Damien had been with her through the whole thing. It had been his idea that she open a garage. Her parents had scoffed at the idea of her climbing under cars for a living but Damien had encouraged it and even landed her first few customer. He had also put her in contact with Auriella.

Auriela was the godsend lawyer who had handled all the legal nonsense of starting a business. Something Izzy had no clue about. The von der Marck's had a couple different ties to her family. Her father had done his fair share of business with them and Damien had gone to school with one of them. It had been a stroke of good luck that they were based in Harper Rock. Her memory of Auriela and those early days of her recovery was a bit of a blur. She had kept in loose contact with Auriela and had exchanged emails right before she had left Germany. They had agreed to meet up once Izzy arrived in Harper Rock. She was hoping Damien had gotten the same idea and gotten in touch with one of the von der Marcks.

Damien hadn't given a real straight forward answer as to why he had left. At first they emailed and texted daily. Then every few days, then every few weeks. The last few emails she had gotten had been short and random. Something about them had seemed off. Damien had refused to talk about it so after two months she had started to really worry. Her parents hadn't seemed the least bit concerned. The night before she left they had fought for hours over it. She hadn't told them where she was going and knew it wouldn't be long before her absence was noticed.

The taxi stopped and she slipped the driver some cash and grabbed her bags from the boot. The hotel wasn't five star but it wasn't rent by the hour either. She didn't know how long she was going to be in Harper Rock but for now the hotel would work. She checked in under her assumed name and face planted into the bed letting out a deep sigh. She was beyond tired and took all the strength she had to pop off her boots and jacket and crawl under the covers. Everything else could wait until the morning.

Like most mornings she woke up on the floor wrapped in a blanket. She groaned sitting up and let out a long yawn before hobbling back onto the bed. She looked around the room confused before remembering the previous days adventure. She hobbled to her suitcases and started pulling out clothes and her laptop. She started a pot of coffee and booted up the laptop. She wasn't meeting with Auriela until later in the evening. Plenty of time to call around the city one more time and inquire into some private investigators in the area. She slipped on her prosthetic and walked out onto the rooms balcony lighting a cigarette and sipping the coffee.

She looked out towards the city suspiciously. Something about the place had put her on edge. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. She finished the cigarette and retreated back to her laptop to start her work for the day. A lot of it was spent on the phone to one agency or another. The other half was digging through websites and replying to emails and other feelers she had spread out across the internet. A few hours later and the only new information was the last ping of Damien's phone before he had turned it off or it died. She closed the laptop and decided on a shower before meeting with Auriela.

Izzy dressed and stepped back to look at herself in the mirror. She had ran her hands through her short blonde hair and just kind of let it do it's own thing. She had forgotten her contacts at home and she stared back at herself with mismatched eyes. Black knee high boots covered her prosthetic while the sleek black pencil skirt covered the rest of her legs. The black side button shirt felt uncomfortable compared to the denim overalls and button up she was accustomed to wearing most days. It was about as fancy dressed as she got anymore.

She let out a deep sigh and phoned a cab before packing her suitcase and digging the Mil-tac knife from the bottom of her suitcase. She stared at the knife for a long moment before tucking into the back of her skirt and pulling the shirt over it. She doubted she would need the knife but better safe than sorry. She climbed into the cab and fed the cabbie the restaurant address they had agreed upon. She rode in silence and was surprised at how fast the cab ride was over. She was thankful the restaurant didn't seem to ridiculously high end. Even with her upbringing Izzy had never been one fore overly fancy things. She entered the restaurant and gave the hostess notice of her arrival. She clasped her arms behind her back and glanced around the restaurant silently.

[Aurelia]

Outfit

“Aurelia, don’t forget about your dinner engagement with an… Isabelle Helm? This evening.”

The voice of her secretary cut on her answering machine had the allurist glancing at the calendar set up on her wall. Sometimes, Vera acted as if she forgot meetings every day, instead of the one that had followed shortly after the night she had turned. “I took the luxury of having a car dropped off by Jackson Wheeler, as I’m aware you’ve been having trouble with your vehicle as of late. Please remember that you’ll be helping her with her new business.” As she continued on, Aurelia began to contemplate relocating her assistant to one of the other law offices in her firm - perhaps not working under the petite von der Marck.

Calling out to her Google Home, the messages cut off and silence recollected again in the ranch while she brushed her fingers through her straw colored hair. As she dressed, Aurelia thought back to what she knew about Isabelle, aka Izzy. It had been through her Damien that they had been introduced, one of Hadrian’s friends whom she was acquainted with well enough. She’d met the other a few times and had decided early on that she appreciated the spirit in which settled within the woman, even if she’d been on hard times. With her ability to see spirits, Aurelia had made it a point in life to hardly judge those who were different than she. After all, it would make her a bit of a hypocrite, wouldn’t it?

The email exchanges had always been polite and friendly, and after sometime, she’d considered the woman to be part of their small family. And it had been that line of thought that had the petite allurist reaching out to Alaric and asking if he would accept a houseguest at the Estate. Normally, she would have offered a room at her ranch, but a bit of difficulty with the ceiling had offered bad timing and she didn’t trust herself not to be frustratingly irritated - even Hadrian had been glared at more times than she could remember in the past week. Later on in the evening, after meeting with her friend, Aurelia would make it a point to send the information she had over on the woman to her elder. Both of what Aurelia had for her business and offer her email so that the man would see that the woman was harmless.

Once she was dressed, Aurelia collected a clutch that went with her dress and left the ranch at half past to arrive on time at the restaurant. As she sat in the car, the blonde sat up as straight as she could, her ankles tucked underneath her while she sent a few texts out - most importantly to Hadrian, to whom she reminded him of the dinner as she wouldn’t be home, and then to her partner, Evangeline. They arrived outside and Aurelia paid for the car before she made her way inside. It took her only a few moments to recognize her friend, a smile playing across her lips as she stepped up behind her.

It was odd for Aurelia still not used to the difference of human sight and the one that she had gained as a vampire, seeing the sharpness of everything. It was especially noticeable for her when she thought of people from her memory versus the way she saw them in person, after she was turned. She could see the little imperfections that made every person unique, that made them who they were - they were little things that Aurelia loved the most, really. ”Izzy,” She greeted, ”It’s been a while. You look wonderful.”