Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) (12 page)

“The origin of vampires was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” he said.

I just gave him a disbelieving look, “and why hasn’t the world heard of this before?”

“They have, they choose not to listen to it.”

He turned the pages looking for the passage he wanted, then began to read:

“And the Angels fell from Heav
en to be with the daughters of M
an, their beauty tempted them into falling as they gave up their first right in Heaven; to be with whatever woman they choose on Earth. The women followed after these fallen
A
ngels, for they were strong and magnificent in stature, and their own beauty was far beyond anything the women had ever seen. The women bore
many children unto the fallen A
ngels, and these were to be called Nephilim, the half-breed children of both God and Man. 

Their strength and stat
ure wasn’t that of their father
s
’
, but they were called giants in the land, they were beyond beauty and grace, and their sight carried further then the ey
e of M
an.  The Book o
f Enoch tells of these Nephilim
and when man could no longer sustain the Nephilim’s great hunger they turned ravenous and began to devour mankind's flesh, and drank their blood.

God’s response to this was to destroy the Earth in his anger and cleanse it of the evil permeating it, saving only a few of the Son of Man. After the destruction of the earth, a few lonely giants still remained, but also remained hidden. These were the distant cousins of the Nephilim, smaller in stature though still great in their beauty; those we call Rephaim. The Rephaim continued to turn against the edict of God and still cons
umed the flesh and blood of man
discovering it made them faster, stronger, fairer in skin.

Soon came the day when the Rephaim began to forgo all manner of consumption beyond that of the blood of flesh, having a frenzy of both mind and body if forgoing the blood for even a night. One night, while consuming the flesh of a young maiden, an Angel of God came unto the Rephaim and spoke to him, telling him he was to be cursed to walk the Earth for all its days for his wickedness. He would see neither the gates of Heaven nor the fires of Hell and that the rising sun would be his keeper cleansing him of his evil ways should he ever dare try to see it again.”

Michael closed the book; I couldn’t speak because of my shock.
Angels, vampires
were started because of fallen A
ngels?

Sebastian picked up where Michael had left off, “Eventually, over time, the name Rephaim was turned and morphed into the vampire we are called today. The Rephaim that walked the Earth of our ancestors fell in love with a hum
an woman, much like the fallen A
ngels had. The stories say he killed her in a frenzy of blood lust. Deciding that he couldn’t live without her he slit his own throat regardless of the Angel of God telling him he would walk the Earth forever. His blood fell into his love’s mouth, and it is said she rose to walk the earth with him two nights later, drinking on the flesh of man along with him. And so it came to be how the vampire began to procreate an
d walk the night, to in the end
rule the earth.”

“You’re serious? Fallen
A
ngels of God turned into blood sucking creatures of the night? I don’t believe it,” I said.

“Believ
e it, God tried to destroy the E
arth once because of creatures like us, and the only way he will stop us now is to destroy it again.”

Sebastian and I left soon after, Sebastian making up some excuse about wanting to get me into bed. I wasn’t so sure it was a lie. Neither of us said anything as we got into the jag and drove away, Sebastian driving this time. Nothing held much excitement for me after what I had just seen and heard.

Sebastian finally spoke up, “Juliana, do you see why I need you to come work for me? We can’t break through their ranks quickly enough without someone to take them out without their knowing, Michael said it himself.”

I turned on him, so angry I could hardly contain it, “Why did you do that! Why did you tell him I can resist compulsion and make him believe I can compel other vampires? I can’t compel other vampires.” I wasn’t sure if I could trust Sebastian now or not, and I needed him to believe I couldn’t.

“Because I need him to allow you into the ranks in Chicago. If he thinks you are useful he will do just that, and I do think you can compel other vampires. There is no other way to explain what happened to Nathaniel.”

“
I am not going to work for you.”

“How can you say that after what you just saw?”

“They will come after my family; they will do that to my family! I won’t risk them.”

“I will give them my full protection and station guards about them 24 hours a day. I like William’s idea of bringing back the human guard and will start recruiting for it immediately among the hu
mans already involved with the C
ouncil.”

“Can I reveal myself to my family? Let them know I am alive. What I have become. After all won’t they suspect a 24 hour guard?”

“No, if I allow it I’m putting my own position at risk within the council. If anyone discovered that I allowed it, and someone would since others are always trying to overthrow me
,
they would kill your family, you and me for breaking the law. Simply to set an example.”

“The Council doesn’t sound any better than the Coven, both sides seem to kill at whim
for whatever purpose serves them the best.”

“You didn’t see anyone killed at the Council’s club tonight, and I am offering your family my full protection. This is your last offer.”

“I’ll work with you, not for you. And I can leave whenever I want. No stake in the heart, or sun light to kill me if I want to quit.”

“You can quit when we take down the Coven, I won’t stop you.”

“Ok, I’ll help you bring down the Coven.”

We didn’t say anything else the rest of the way back to meet up with the others. I was lost in my own thoughts about what I had just agreed to; I was going to work for, no with, the Council. The ones responsible for ruining my life, I must have lost some major brains cells when I was turned to have agreed to something so ludicrous. Sebastian knew what he was doing bringing me to the Coven tonight, there was no other way I would have agreed to it if I didn’t see the way they were torturing humans for myself.

Sebastian had pulled up to the hotel I was staying at with William and Ana. When we walked in the door it was obvious the doorman recognized me instantly when he gave me a look with a raised eyebrow. He was apparently wondering what I was doing with yet another person going into my room. I just a gave him a wave of my fingers and kept walking on by, he could think whatever he wanted, I really didn’t have the patience for it or care at this point.

Sebastian and I still hadn’t said a single word to each other since our agreement, and as we pushed our way into the room it was thick from the tension radiating from inside. William and Ana were both seated on one of the couches next to each other, facing Martin who was sitting in the chair opposite them. I wondered how long they had been sitting like that. All three of them turned to look at us simultaneously; it was a little unnerving really, their synchronicity.

“Well?” Martin asked directing his question toward Sebastian.

“It’s done.”

Sebastian hadn’t gone any further than the entryway and as soon as he was done speaking Martin was up and walking to the door. He brushed past me giving me a nod of farewell as he turned to shut the door.

“I’ll be seeing you later, Juliana.”

I didn’t respond and kept my eyes trained on both William and Ana. They looked like their night hadn’t gone any better than mine. The instant the door was completely shut, Ana came flashing up to me as quickly as she could, taking me off guard as she did. She came to a stop directly in front of me, her hands running along my arms and face almost like she had to touch me to make sure I was really okay.

“What happened? What’s done? Why are you so upset?” she started rattling off.

“Ana leave me alone, nothing happened to me, I’m fine,” I said brushing her off me, and walking further into the living room where William was standing looking at the two of us.

“Then why are you so upset? Your emotions are in such a turmoil right now I can’t get a hold on any one them to gauge how your feeling.”

“Then just cut me off, turn off our connection like you did in the club. If I’m bothering you so much, turn off our connection, like you did earlier when I needed you.”

I turned my back to her and stared out at the windowless room.

“Why aren’t there any windows in here?”

I needed to get out and think about what I had done. I started for the bedroom to find my bag, when I found it I pulled out my jeans and a tank and threw them onto the bed. William and Ana both followed me into the room watching me as I tried not to become a blathering mess. I pulled off the ridiculous dress Ana had me wear and let it fall into a crumpled ball onto the floor. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and changed into the clothes that felt more like me.

“Jules, talk to us. What’s going on?” William was prodding.

“I need to get out, out of this box. Are you two coming or not?”

I looked over at them and they were still wearing the same clothes they had worn to Charlie’s.  Ana in her glamorous black dress and William in his suit.

“God yes, I’ve been dying to get out of here,” Ana shocked me a little by saying. She dropped her dress to the floor much like I had just done and reached over for her own clothes that were hung in the closet. William went to change and met us in the living room wearing his own black tee shirt and jeans. In less than five minutes we were all ready to go.

“Where to?” William asked.

“Anywhere, but here.”

We made our way down to the lobby, when the desk clerk saw the three of us he asked if we needed him to call for our car. We all immediately called out ‘no’ and kept on our way out the front door. There was still traffic out even considering it was past two in the morning, we didn’t have long until the sun would be rising; otherwise I would have suggested we leave tonight to go back home to Chicago. We took off and joined the foot traffic on the streets of New York. I found myself still struggling to cope with what I had seen earlier.

“What did you two do while I was out with Sebastian?” Maybe they would be able to calm my inner turmoil. I just wasn’t ready to tell them what had happened yet.

“Martin had a little history lesson for us. He also wanted to remind us with whom our allegiance was supposed to be with. He wasn’t happy we had kept things from him to put it lightly.”

“Oh, great, more problems I’ve caused.”

“No, there aren’t any more problems. He just wants to ensure there won’t be any in the future. He did also have some interesting information for us, Juliana, and we really should talk.”

I stopped walking abruptly and turned to face to William, the crowd of humans walking separated around us like water against a stone. It was like they knew instinctively they were near predators of some sort, and not to get too close.

“What happened?”

“This isn’t exactly the place,” he replied gesturing to the crowd moving around us.

I looked around trying to find somewhere that we would be able to talk and not be over heard or interrupted. I needed to talk to them about some news of my own as well, and I wasn’t going back to the hotel. I hated that room now with its over-bearing reminder of why we were here. I saw a fire escape on the side of a building and went to pull it down.

“What are you doing?” Ana asked.

“Finding a little privacy.”

I jumped up and grasped the bottom of the fire escape ladder and pulled it down. It made a loud commotion as it clanged into place, but once it had stopped moving I started to run up it. I could sense Ana and William trailing behind me. I stopped running when I came to the roof of the building. It was impressive; we had a view over-looking the New York skyline and its entire splendor. The three of us stood on the buildings edge taking in the scene before I turned to look at them. They were both amazingly beautiful. I understood none of us actually were descendants of fallen angels, but looking at Ana and William, I could almost believe they were.

“You go first,” I said to them.

“Well, we basically were reprimanded for not telling Martin more about you, and what really went down with Nathaniel. Then he started asking us very specific questions about you, they know a lot about you Jules, more than I had anticipated. He started asking us your family history and ancestry, we told him that we simply didn’t know. He was finally satisfied we weren’t lying to him somehow.”

“Why did he want to know about my family history, what the hell does that have to do with anything?”

Ana and William shared a concerned glance with each other, “Just tell me!”

“Apparently, both the Coven and Council have been seeking out vampires or humans with a very specific ancestry, and they thought the line had died out. It might explain some of your abilities,” Ana started to explain.

“What kind of ancestry?”

“A link to a very specific tribe of Romani Gypsies, they traveled through Northern Europe and migrated often. Which in itself is very common, but this tribe was traveling because they were following a band of vampires. They were vampire hunters.”

“What does this have to do with me, even if I have Gypsy blood in me?”

“Well, these Gypsy vampire hunters were very good at what they did. They made incredibly inventive weapons, discovering silver was deadly, they were agile fighters, could cover large amounts of ground by day when the vampires couldn’t travel, and were extremely good trackers. They were taking out large numbers of vampires by decapitating them and leaving the separated body parts staked out for the sun to turn to ash. Because they did this instead of just staking them, the vampires felt they were being toyed with, and started playing back.

They set up ambushes for the hunters and would compel them into doing deviant acts in front of their family to humiliate them even further, before killing them slowly. Because they would be in a trance they couldn’t fight back. This began happening more and more often and the numbers of those hunting the vampires began to dwindle.

One night an old Romani woman who could barely stand on her own, but had witnessed night after night, the things the vampires had done, called the remaining hunters to her side. Even though she was physically very weak, she was a very powerful witch among the Gypsy clan, and therefore was highly respected. She had drawn a large circle in the dirt surrounding all of the hunters, and cast a sphere of protective energy around them. The exact spell she cast is still unknown, making it impossible to even attempt to break, however we know it was a very powerful protection spell. She used her athame to focus the power of her energy and the spell into not only the hunters in her sacred c
ircle, but also all the descendants
of their line. She poured so much of her strength, love and will into protecting her people that the effort took her life as she broke the circle.

They ran into battle that night thinking they would be safe, but still some died. They thought the woman must have been crazy
trying to protect them with a spell
. Then the hunters began to notice they were no longer able to be controlled by the vampires. The spell of protection was for their mind; nothing could penetrate their psyche any longer and compel them. The gypsies eventually ran most of the vampires out of Northern Europe. The line had been terribly diminished by that time though.”

Ana and William paused in their story and just looked at me as I tried to take in what they were saying
to
me.

“So, what you are telling me is my ancestors fought and gave their lives fighting vampires, and now I am one?”

“It’s just one possible explanation,” William said. “We think the change into a vampire mutated whatever it is that protects you, and that’s why you are able to compel other vampires. Do you hav
e any Romani in your heritage?”

“Yes, I do.” I closed my eyes and hung my head. Even though I didn’t ask for this, I felt like a betrayer. “This is why Christian is able to resist compulsion, because he’s my son? If Martin and Sebastian knew about this already then they now know about Christian being resistant also. This is why they agreed so easily to let him guard me, they’ll want to use him somehow.”

They just nodded their heads in agreement.

“And I just handed him to them. Not only that, but they’ll soon know about Evan as well. What have I done?” I spoke the last more as a whisper, and mostly to myself.

“We’ll have to keep them away from your house if at all possible. Christian must always come to see us, you will have to limit your times you go home Juliana. We will have to do everything we can to not bring attention to the fact that you have another son,” Ana was already sketching out a list and plans in her head.

“It’s too late. They’re going to find out. Very soon, in fact.”

Ana stopped counting things off on her fingers and gave me her full attention, “Why would it be too late?”

“Because Sebastian is going to have a full guard detail set up around my family 24 hours a day.”

“Why is he doing this?” William’s eyes were quickly turning black and his jaw was twitching from his anger – or jealously.

“It was a condition that my family be protected if I was going to work with him to stop the Coven.”

William’s fangs dropped instantly and his muscles tightened under his tee shirt.

“We told you not to work for the Council!”

“I’m not working for the Council, I’m working with you guys to stop the Coven from torturing human beings, and outing vampires to the world. If they get what they want it will be like walking around after the apocalypse, and that isn’t the world I want to live in – or see my children live in, vampire or not.”

“You will never get out, Jules. You just gave yourself to him, don’t you get it?”

“I heard you the first time, I can also quit as soon as we stop the Coven. Without being harmed or killed,” I told them both smugly.

“I have been working for the Council for almost my entire vampire existence and so has Ana, the entire time we have been trying to take down the Coven. There will be no quitting for you,” William said as he turned and stepped off the side of the building.

“Will!” I screamed frantically.

“Relax, like he’s really going to get hurt.”

I looked over the edge of the building to see William had fallen several stories before stopping himself by grabbing the edge of the building. There was another building next to us he flung himself onto by landing on its fire escape then jumping onto the roof.

“What is he doing?”

He was now standing on the edge of the building next to us looking out and away from Ana and I. He was as still as a statue, with his hands on his hips. I looked down at the harrowing fifteen stories down to the streets below, then over to William ignoring me.