Aaron had had to call in a few favors, but he’d acquired the information he needed. He had fairly reliable intelligence that Holland was in Paris and that one of their most valuable turncoat Vampires knew exactly where she could be found. He had initially intended to wait for her to come to him. But, now that Henry was dead, too, he knew she’d be working more quickly to amass a larger number of Vampires. If he went to her, not only would he shorten the amount of time she would have to recruit, it would also give him the element of surprise, something he always found to be beneficial.

Whether or not to put Cadence on the team had been a difficult decision. He knew she was certainly going to be capable of eliminating more Vampires single handedly than anyone else he had in his service, yet he also knew that Holland would throw everything at her the Vampire queen had available. In the end, he decided she needed to go. The team needed her skills, and she would need to have some closure.

Handpicking the rest of the team members was not as easy as one might think. He knew Elliott would have to come, as would Jamie. They both had skills no one else could duplicate. He didn’t really want to take Eliza. She had become a bit of a liability over the last few years. But he knew she was invested in this project because she had been present at the initial confrontation. So she was coming. He needed Christian, too, in case they had tech problems. He had already contacted six other Guardians based in Paris and their team was eager to help.

As for Hunters, he had few highly reliable members to choose from if he looked only at his own team. Three Hunters based out of Paris wanted to work with them; they had tipped him off to talk to Sebastian, the turncoat Vampire that had given him a specific location. He wanted to keep his Hunter-to-Guardian ratio fairly low because he wanted to make sure to offer plenty of protection to Cadence since she would likely be doing most of the killing. He decided to call in a female Hunter based out of California. She had worked with his team before but had spent the last few years off on her own. She wasn’t exactly the easiest person to get along with, but he knew she was effective. Her name was Stormy, a name that fit her perfectly.

After spending the morning getting commitments from his French connections, he called his team in to go over the plan. Stormy would join them on the IAC. He was also missing Cadence, but he could fill her in later. He hoped she’d be willing to come back soon so they could get to Paris quickly, but he had given her a few days off, and if she intended to use them, he certainly wasn’t going to argue. Technically, she was still suspended, and Elliott and Christian were on a team that didn't follow protocol, which meant they should miss the next hunt. Rather than bend the rules on that last one, he organized a hunt for that evening, one he would also not be attending, so that he could say the Guardians had sat one out. And since Cadence was the only one who had any idea that she had been given a few days off, or a suspension, it really didn’t matter if she decided to come back sooner.

He set the briefing for 4:00 that afternoon and decided to have it in his own office, rather than the room they usually used. After last night’s shenanigans, he thought they needed a change of scenery. Everyone was on time, even Eliza, and he was able to get started right away. He knew Cadence was still in the process of getting Jack to the doctor so she wouldn’t even have her IAC tuned in. Stormy was viewing the meeting from his perspective.

“All right, good afternoon everyone,” Aaron began once they had taken their seats. “The reason I called you all in today is because I’ve hand selected you to go on a high priority trip to Paris.” He waited for the cheering to stop and then continued. “We are going to kill Vampires, not for the shopping or the sightseeing, just so you know.” Eliza groaned disappointedly. “I know. It’s terrible. Okay then. This is our primary target.” He brought up a picture of Holland. “Most of you were present at the recent mission in Iowa, so you know Holland well. Approximate age is twelve to fourteen hundred, extended clan size numbers in the thousands, but her primary clan is estimated to be between twenty to thirty.” There were some gasps from the team members who were really good at math, so he paused to explain.

“We will have quite a few French team members working with us as well. I know you’re all counting and trying to figure out the ratio. Chances are we'll still be outnumbered, but that’s nothing new. We’re used to that, and most of her primary clan members are young which usually equals stupid.”

They all verbally agreed with that, so he continued. “This is what we will refer to as Location One. It is an extremely popular burlesque strip club; I’ll wait for the catcalls to stop, thank you, called Le Doll, located on Rue St. Denis. This is the location where our informant, Sebastian, a turncoat Vampire, has witnessed Holland and several of her minions hanging out over the past few days and actually quite a bit last summer as well. And to ease the consciences of those of you who are wondering why we would fly all the way to France based on the hunch of a turncoat, these three young ladies are Hunters who have recently taken positions—no pun intended—in the strip club so they can better keep an eye on Holland and her comings and goings.” Turning to the picture, he said, “That’s Chantal, the middle girl with the blonde hair is Genevieve, and the one on the end is Sabin.” He noticed Jamie’s hand was raised so he paused, “Yes, Jamie?”

“Does whoever takes out Holland get one of those?” he asked gesturing at the picture.

“Well, they are strippers, so, quite possibly,” Aaron replied, deciding to allow a little more fun into their brief this time since his usual methods had not been working so well recently.

“Everybody has a price,” Elliott chimed in.

“Anyway,” Aaron continued, “I was able to procure some pretty valuable information from these three ladies this afternoon, and they are more than willing to work with us. They are a small team, just the three of them, so they operate as informants to larger operations. But they are always excited to get in on a hunt.”

He pulled up the last slide. “This is an abandoned warehouse, Le Vieux Moulin, which is designated as Location Two, should we need a secondary location. It’s located close to Location One. This is the place where Sebastian believes Holland and her clan are staying. I am working on getting more information about the interior of this building. It would be nice if we can engage Holland and her clan here because it allows for less human interaction.”

Seeing that everyone was following, Aaron moved on. “As of right now, we are waiting on Stormy to arrive. I have sent a plane to retrieve her, so she will be here later this evening. We will also be waiting on Cadence, who is visiting a sick friend.” He noticed the eyebrow raising and head swiveling but didn’t acknowledge it. The situation was between him and Cadence, though, he was pretty sure Elliott would want to talk about it. “So as soon as they are both here, I will let you know our travel schedule. We will get things moving as quickly as possible. If you don’t have any questions then you can go. Thanks everyone.”

Christian was the first one out the door, a wide smile on his face. Aaron knew he would be happy he had reinstated Cadence. He was glad Cadence had already made a friend on the team.

As the rest of the team exited, poor Jamie was getting an ear full from Eliza regarding the best shopping in Paris. He threw Aaron a look that seemed to say, “Help me!” as she rattled on about Louboutin versus Yves Saint Lourent.

But Elliott stayed, as Aaron knew he would.

“I thought you took Ms. Vampire-Slayer off the rotation for a while. What gives?”

Aaron was straightening up the conference table. “Well, Elliott, I’ve done some research since I talked to Cadence, some scientific studies regarding DNA coding and instinctive nature in Hunters, and it turns out she had a valid point.”

“What was that? My grandparents were Leaders, so I don’t have to listen to anybody?” Elliott asked sarcastically.

Aaron’s patience was wearing thin. “Well, yesterday you were telling me you thought she acted that way because we were dating—which we weren’t by the way—and now you think it’s something else?” He could feel the tension rising in his voice, and he knew he was about to lose what little patience he had left. “Since you’re the expert on Cadence’s decision making, why don’t you go ahead and explain everything to me now? That way I’ll know what to expect next time.”

Elliott realized he had pushed too hard. “Whoa, all right now, calm down,” he said in a serene voice. “You’re the boss. You want to take her with us, take her with us. I just hope you’re doing it for the right reasons, man; that’s all.”

“Believe me, I am,” Aaron assured him. “I told her last night that I was no longer dating my subordinates. Now, in retrospect, I realize I not only acted like a jackass but also like an idiot, because you know what Elliott, I like her. I do. And you let me convince myself that, just because I’ve had a few situations go bad, I shouldn’t even give her a chance. Well that was dumb of me, and now she’s at her ex-boyfriend’s, so there you go.”

“Are you saying it’s my fault that you broke up with her?” Elliott asked, suddenly on the defensive again. “Cause you’re a big boy and you can make your own decisions. I didn’t tell you what to do.”

“Oh, you’re right, Mr. Used-Car-Salesmen. It was completely my decision. You had no input whatsoever.”

“You think I hypnotized you into breaking up with her? That is absolutely ridiculous,” Elliott said defensively.

That really wasn’t what Aaron thought at all. He was aware that Elliott had a way of influencing his decision making even without using his gifts. However, he was done with the conversation and was ready to move on to other things, such as checking in on Cadence. “It would probably be best if we just ended this discussion right now. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I’m sure you do, too. Let’s let it go. It doesn’t matter now anyway.”

Elliott nodded. “All right, brother. As long as you understand that I always have your best interests at heart. I hope you know that.”

Aaron exhaled. He really couldn’t argue with that, though Elliott’s decision-making method was much different than his own. “I know,” he said. “I know.”

Elliott patted him on the back and walked out the door. Aaron had plenty of work to do, but he really wanted to know what the doctor had to say about Jack. He checked the time. The doctor’s office would be closing soon, so if he didn’t hear from her within the next half-hour, that would be a good indicator that Jack had been sent to the hospital.