Ashes of the Day (11 page)

“I’m listening.”

“I care about him and…I don’t want any of the others feeding on him. He doesn’t want that either, he’s said as much. But I don’t think he’ll be able to resist if they…if it’s offered. I think he’s addicted and it’s kind of our fault—all of us, everyone who’s fed on him. So I want you to give him some kind of severance package, enough money to live on for a while and help finding a new job. And I want you to make sure everyone knows he’s off-limits.”

Conrad raised one eyebrow. “I see. Is there anything else?”

“No.” Julie sighed. “No, that’s pretty much it.”

“Very well,” Conrad repeated. “Then, as I said, I will see that it’s taken care of.”

“Thank you,” Julie said, her voice subdued.

“I have to say, my dear, you don’t seem very happy about this.”

“I’m not.” She shook her head. “I’m going to miss him terribly. But, all the same, I know it has to be done. I don’t want him ending up like…well, like Damian’s friend. You know the one I mean.”

He did indeed. “Paul.”

“Yes.”

Conrad nodded. “I see. And is that why you came to me, rather than your uncle?”

“Partly. Damian doesn’t really understand why this is important to me. I’m afraid if I try and explain… Well, I’m afraid it will bring up bad memories and he’ll be hurt. Besides,” she added, smiling faintly, “I want everyone to leave Brennan alone, and I know it will carry much more weight if you say it.”

“Indeed.” Conrad nodded. “Just as it should. Are you certain there’s nothing else I can do for you? I hate to see you look so sad.”

Julie shook her head, then stopped and said, “No, except, can I tell him myself? Brennan, I mean. I don’t want him to hear it from someone else.”

“Of course, my dear.” Conrad smiled softly at her. “You may tell him whatever you wish.”

After Julie left, Conrad once again picked up his book, but his thoughts drifted away almost immediately. It wasn’t just Damian who could be hurt by painful memories. They all had plenty of those.

Chapter Seven

May, 1995

“Damian!” Marc’s voice rang through the quiet house. He stalked down the hall, peering into empty rooms, dragging Julie along with him. “Damn it. Where the hell is he?”

“Let me go Marc,” Julie protested, trying to pry her arm loose. “You’re just being ridiculous now.”

Marc shook his head. He drew in another breath and Julie gritted her teeth in frustration. No doubt he was about to yell again—which was just what her poor ears didn’t need. Luckily for her, the door to Damian’s room opened before Marc had the chance to completely deafen her.

Damian leaned heavily against the doorframe and regarded them both with a weary expression. “Well,
mis niños
? What is it?”

Julie glanced away, heart twisting at the sight of him. He looked terrible, gaunt and heavy-eyed. Unhappy. They shouldn’t be bothering him at a time like this.

“It’s Julie,” Marc said, pushing her forward. “You have to
do
something with her.”

A sardonic smile curved Damian’s lips. “Is this so,
chica
? Is there something that must be done with you?”

Julie flushed angrily. “No.” Crossing her arms she glared at her brother. “Of course not. Marc’s just being stupid. Ignore him.”

“Bullshit,” Marc snapped. “Stop pretending. I’m not the one who’s been stupid tonight and you damn well know it. You need help.”

Damian sighed. “Must you resort to vulgarity, Marc? What help does she need? What is it you think I should be doing that I’m not?”

“I don’t know, how about go out hunting with her once in a while like you used to? Work with her on some advanced self-defense techniques? Pay attention? I can’t always be there when she gets in trouble, you know.”

“Stop it!” Julie snarled. “I’m right here, Marc. Don’t talk about me like I’m not. And I don’t
need
you to be anywhere. I’m fine, all right? You make it sound like this kind of stuff happens all the time!”

“What ‘stuff’ has happened now?” Damian asked.

Julie shrugged. “Nothing much. It was just…some guys were giving me a hard time tonight, that’s all. They were drunk and I…”

“They had her cornered,” Marc said, taking up the tale. “In an alley downtown. She freaked out and went all fangy on them and if I hadn’t been close by…well, it could have been a real mess.”

Damian straightened at once. “Juliet!” He stared at her, aghast. Was he worried for her safety? Or horrified that she’d broken one of his and Conrad’s cardinal rules?

Julie flushed and dropped her gaze. The orders had been drummed into their heads from the time they were children. They were never to reveal themselves to others, never to display their fangs to anyone outside the family, always to find some other means to deal with threats. “I panicked, okay? It’s just…there were a bunch of them and they…” She swallowed hard. They had no right touching her like that or saying what they did. “I got scared.”

“I just hope we caught them all,” Marc said. “And that we used enough venom so that they won’t remember what they saw.”

“Are you all right,
niña
?” Damian asked. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

The tenderness in his voice brought tears to Julie’s eyes. She shook her head. “No, I’m fine.” But when he opened his arms, she went into them all the same.

“There, there,” Damian murmured, holding her close. “It will be all right. Perhaps Marc has a point. It’s been a while since our last training session. You’re probably out of practice. I’m sure that’s all this is. We should schedule something. Maybe in the next day or so.”

Julie sighed and reluctantly pulled away. “It’s not going to help. Sparring with one of you in the gym, wearing comfortable clothes—what’s that supposed to do for me? That’s nothing at all like being out on the streets alone.” Even sparring with both of them at once wasn’t on par with what she’d been through tonight. Even with Marc, who’d always refused to pull his punches, she’d never felt frightened, only mad when he wouldn’t let up, when he forced her to fight back harder than she wanted to.

She didn’t
need
more practice; she had the moves down cold. She knew just what to do and how and when to do it. She’d always assumed that, if and when the time arose, instinct and training would take over, adrenaline would kick in and she’d fight back just like she was supposed to. That’s not what had happened tonight, however. When the time came to act, she froze. She panicked. She hadn’t wanted to fight back. She’d just wanted to get away.

“You think it’s easy trying to fight in a dress or while wearing heels?” she demanded. “Well, it’s not! It’s hard to even run away dressed like this. I feel like…like I’m a target just because of who I am, how I look. None of the rest of you get that. You don’t know what it’s like for me.”

“That’s not completely true,
chica
,” Damian said. “People may be perceived as targets for many reasons. Sometimes just being different is enough. And, unless you’ve forgotten all of your history lessons, you should recall that your grandfather and I lived through times when men routinely went about at night in heels.”

“You’re still not women,” Julie felt obliged to point out.

Damian nodded. “No, we’re not. But even though you’ve yet to meet them, there are many females of our kind, you know. In days past, they dressed—and hunted—in clothes that were very much more cumbersome and restrictive than
anything
you’ve had to deal with. You should both consider yourselves extremely lucky that you were born into such a time as this. Besides, who was it that waylaid you tonight? They were men, were they not? Humans? Nothing more dangerous than that?”

Marc snorted. “Nah, we were also attacked by crocodiles and pigeons and a pack of rabid dogs, didn’t we mention that part?”

“
¡Basta!
” Damian growled. “I was not talking to you, Marc.” He looked at Julie expectantly. “Well,
chica
?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, what was the difficulty? Between the training you’ve already received and your own strength, surely you could have found some other way to extricate yourself, without resorting to something so dangerous?”

Julie shook her head. What good did it do her to be stronger, if the men who’d corralled her didn’t know it? If she had to hide what she was, how was she supposed to stop them from closing in on her in the first place? And sure,
maybe
she could have fought them all off if she’d had to, but what if she couldn’t? What if there were too many of them?

“It’s not enough.” It was Marc who said it, speaking up so suddenly that both Julie and Damian turned to him in surprise. “It doesn’t matter what we think about it. You can stand there all night telling her she can handle it, but if she doesn’t feel that way herself, it’s not going to make a damn bit of difference. The same thing’s gonna happen over and over again just the same.”

Julie’s blood ran cold.
Oh, hell, no
. “No, it’s not.” She shook her head fiercely. “You hear me? It is
not
going to happen again. No way.”

Marc’s eyebrows rose. “Okay, glad to hear it.”

Julie nodded. “Yeah. And you wanna know why? Because I just…I just won’t go out alone anymore, that’s all. I’ll wait until one of you can go with me, or until we move somewhere else, somewhere safe—or safer, anyway. Maybe a smaller town.”

“Aw, fuck.” Marc shook his head. “C’mon, Jules. Now who’s being stupid, huh? You don’t want to do that.”

“Well, of course I don’t
want
to do it, Marc.” She wanted to feel free again, like she always had before; like she could do anything, like she owned the night. “But it won’t be so bad. And, it’s not forever, right? We move all the time anyway.” She broke off with a shrug, aware the others were staring at her. Well, let them stare. She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not happening again.”

But her words left her feeling hollow inside all the same. She felt cheated, wronged. It wasn’t fair! She’d always loved her life. She loved being who and what she was. It made her feel special, unique. Yes, there’d been trade-offs and, sure, she’d been lonely at times, but it was only lately that she’d really felt it. “Maybe we can get some more bagged blood, for the time being. You like that better anyway, don’t you?”

“That’s not the point,” Marc said. “We weren’t talking about what I like, were we?”

“Very well,” Damian said with a sigh. “I see now what needs to be done. We’ll go out tomorrow night,
chica
, you and I. We’ll see if we cannot find these men who gave you such a hard time tonight—or others like them; I’m sure they are not the only ones. Any like group should suffice, I’d imagine.”

“Wait.” Marc frowned. “What’re you saying? You’re gonna purposely go out and look for trouble? Why?”

“Because—” Damian shrugged, “—it’s better to confront one’s fears than hide from them. And your sister is correct. I’ve neglected this part of her education, focused too much attention on theory, on time spent in the classroom, rather than out on the streets. She needs to learn how to react properly
in situ
, as it were. You both do.” He turned to Julie, an odd smile on his lips. “You’ll dress up, then,
sí
? You’ll
wear something nice? A party dress, perhaps?”

“Sure.” Julie shrugged. “Why not?” She wasn’t sure what Damian was trying to prove. Going out with him—or with Marc, or with Conrad—wasn’t at all like going out alone. Which was exactly why she’d suggested it in the first place.

“
Bueno
.” Damian’s smile grew wider; the strange light in his eyes gleamed brighter. “So will I.”

“I still can’t believe you’re doing this.” Julie cast a sidelong glance at Damian as he walked beside her the following evening, his arm linked with hers, as they made their way toward the city’s small downtown section. He was placing his steps a little more carefully than usual, but all in all he seemed more comfortable and walked with a lot more confidence than she would have expected, given the four-inch spiked heels of the shoes he was wearing. Her gaze swept over him again. The styled hair wasn’t a total surprise, nor was the eyeliner. He’d sported both of those in the eighties. But everything else—the lashes, the lipstick, the slinky black dress—that was new. That was amazing. He looked…beautiful. Stylish. Sexy. Sophisticated. Every inch a woman. Julie felt a pang of envy. She couldn’t have pulled that look off—not in a million years. She couldn’t help wondering if she would ever reach the point where she could.

She hadn’t had any idea that Damian was planning this tonight. Even his remarks about party dresses had gone over her head. She was pretty sure Marc hadn’t figured it out either. If he’d known, if he’d even suspected something like this was in the works, there’s no way he would have missed it.

When Damian had disappeared earlier in the evening, claiming he had a mysterious errand to run and promising he’d take her out with him when he returned, Julie hadn’t known what to think. Maybe he was having second thoughts about tonight. Maybe he’d come back for her and maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d return with a supply of bagged blood and tell her to drink that instead.

She wasn’t even sure she didn’t want him to do just that. If he’d suggested, on his return, that they put off this adventure for another night, it would have been fine with her. She wasn’t in the mood to confront her assailants again this soon anyway.