CHAPTER 12
One Way or Another – Blondie
Fascinating how much people reveal of themselves, if given any opportunity. And the current 'modern' world certainly provided plenty of opportunities.
Social media. Credit card purchases. Bank accounts. Internet searches. GPS locations. Even what movies or TV shows they like can be learned through their streaming devices' records.
After the episode in Forks, Demetri was bidden to keep a close eye on the Cullens' allies especially the wolves. A short time following the confrontation, a period of a few months or so, he noticed that one wolf disappeared from his 'radar'. Just outright vanished. Perturbed, he realized that it was the she-wolf. The one that Aro had most coveted for her rarity, along with the alpha for his size and command over the others.
He debated going to Aro immediately after his discovery, but their leader had been distracted lately. Demetri had no clue as to why, any more than he knew why the Volturi had not acted against Cullens' rebellion.
So, he decided instead to wait. He will learn more about this she-wolf in the meantime.
Where could she have gone? Preliminary research showed that she and the rest of the wolves did not have much in the way of funds. She held down multiple jobs, until right before her disappearance, squirrelling money away into a measly bank account which was emptied shortly after. She didn't have very many options.
It took months, and Demetri almost concluded that she had been killed by a vampire yet unknown to him for none of the ones he was tracking in his mind had been near Forks at the time of her disappearance. And none of the other wolves appeared to be leaving the area in search of her. Briefly, Demetri thought that this was sad for the she-wolf, how no one seemed to be looking for her.
But just as he was about to give up and report her demise to Aro, he receives a notification alert for her surname. A single, short article referencing "LJ Clearwater", a young Native student from the University of Washington in Seattle who won a prestigious photography competition using borrowed equipment from a community college.
It was so unexpected, finding her this way, that Demetri gave a delighted cry of surprise.
There was a photograph accompanying the article, the subject sitting on a window sill, the sun behind her casting a shadow that obscured most of her face. But it was her, no doubt.
She talked vaguely in the article about her studies at university. Her love of art, and how her culture and sense of justice in society influences it. She spoke of a grandmother who died when she was on the cusp of becoming a young woman, a particularly great influence. The most revealing thing was a vague allusion to family difficulties that have kept her from going home, how this caused a feeling of being adrift that also affected her art.
Family difficulties… a clue to the wolves perhaps.
From there, Demetri kept watch over the years.
Leah Clearwater was a fastidious student. She finished a double major in Biology and Art in three years with a few college-level units taken during her high school years. She then went on to a doctorate for Genetics and a Masters in Visual Art. All while cementing herself as a photographer, and later on a portrait painter and mixed media artist.
She had plenty of hobbies too, it would seem. She took martial arts classes in various styles. She took additional classes at university, studying languages and the Classics. She took cooking, singing, and dance lessons every once in a while. She visited the theater, ballet and opera fairly often. There were a few restaurants that she frequented on the weekends. She bought tickets to museums and art galleries.
Her spending habits were mostly straightforward. Rent, groceries, school. She didn't appear to own a car, but Demetri knew the apartment she used to share with roommates until she moved into a place of her own. Another mystery was where she was getting her money. Although she has somewhat of a following in the niche world of art photography and portrait enthusiasts, she could not have been making much money through this. But dig as he might, Demetri could not find alternate sources of income unlike in those early days when he first started shadowing her a continent away. She used to hold two, three, sometimes four jobs when she first moved to the city. Menial jobs with little pay. But about a couple of years into university, she stopped working altogether. And yet, there was a steady deposit of money going into her bank account.
And then her spending… She would go days when the only deduction from her account was the rent to her place and nothing else. No groceries. No gym memberships. She would take leaves from school at those times too, which explains why she fell so behind in her doctorate program. Her records say 'medical leave', without any further details. A large amount of money will be transferred to her account, rent and other automatic payments will be taken out. But nothing spontaneous, no unscheduled spending.
Demetri turned the possibilities in his mind. Was she involved in illegal dealings? She wouldn't be the first supernatural to use their abilities to advance in the human world.
Her library records and bookstore purchases showed a healthy interest in reading. History, classic and modern literature, poetry, sciences.
Folklore. That subject stood out. Because she also took Cultural Anthropology classes at the university studying that topic. The discovery made him smile. She was researching shapeshifter legends around the world, it seemed.
Her streaming habits were revealing in much the same way, save one. Documentaries on history and myths dominated her viewing, surpassed only by (and this was the part that surprised him the most) romantic comedy movies.
It would seem the she-wolf was a romantic at heart.
Demetri relished the discovery.
What a delightful little weakness.