Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) (14 page)

“Eleven O’clock, why?”

“There’s some research I have to do, but I’ll do it after you leave. William what else do you want to work on tonight?”

William brought Christian to the middle of the sparring floor and showed him a few basic hand-to-hand combat moves. They started out moving in slow motion making sure to get the technique of blocking and jabbing correct then began moving quicker and quicker. Before long Christian looked like he was hitting a punching bag, not another person. His reflexes were outstanding. This went on for another hour or two William putting him through various rotations.

“I think that’s good for tonight, let’s head upstairs. You went beyond my expectations Christian.” William’s praise lit up Christian’s face as we all made our way back up the stairs.

Ana was sitting at the kitchen table with Christian’s shoes scattered all before her, there were two pairs sitting neatly next to each other on the counter. Other than those two pairs of shoes everything was in complete disarray, tools, shoes, thin silver blades, hot cauterizing irons and newspaper were all spread about her, and she was leaning intently over a pair of his steel toed work boots. She had on a pair black leather gloves that were form fitting to her fingers allowing her to work deftly with the silver and the tools at the same time.

Without looking up she said she was almost done with the pair of shoes she was working on and Christian could take home the two pairs on the counter tonight. She worked fast. She has just finished sliding a long silver blade into the sole of his left shoe. She was fitting a sort of catch onto the back heel and cauterized the front where she had inserted it, melting the rubber and effectively hiding that anything had been tampered with. She finally looked up at us and gave a smile handing off the boots to Christian.

“Here you go, three pairs done. I need to hang on to your belts and the last couple pairs of your shoes, but I’ll be done with them by tomorrow night when you come over. William, show him how they work,” Ana said gesturing to his shoes with a nod of her head.

William came to stand before us he was wearing a dark pair of fitted jeans, a tee-shirt along with a pair of black riding boots he usually wore when he rode his bike. To Christian’s eyes it would appear a blade just sprang out of the heel of William’s boot with no prompting on his part. To vampire eyes, if they were paying very close attention, they could see William pressed quickly on his heel in rapid succession. This caused the silver blade to be released acting like a hidden, and very effective weapon.

“How in the hell did you do that?”

“Watch your language,” I snapped at him.

Christian started looking his own shoes over cautiously, “Are these things going to accidently stab me?”

“No, they can only be released if you apply the correct amount of pressure, in the right sequence, to the appropriate position within the shoe. You can run in them, throw them, drop them; nothing will cause the blade to release unless it’s done correctly. They are meant to be worn at all times, everywhere you go. That is the reason for concealing them like this no one, not even another vampire, will know you are armed,” Ana explained as Christian tried the shoes on.

Ana went and stood by Christian’s side, he was taller than I was and had the same long lean build as his father. His tan skin and dark brown hair stood in stark contrast to Ana’s smooth pale complexion and golden blond hair. They were both leaning over looking at their feet, and it brought an amused smile to my face to see them getting along so well when just a few days ago they were both trying to attack each other.

“Okay, I’ve slowed the sequencing pattern to that of a human. There are only two situations when you will want to use it, one is during a fight and you need it quickly. You will hit the front of your toe on the ground and it will instantly trigger the blade to release. The second, is if you are in a precarious situation, and aren’t quite sure if you are going to pull a weapon or not. This is when the sequencing comes in handy, it’s akin to cocking a gun. It makes it ready, but you don’t have to use it.”

She went on to show him the sequence to which he never did manage to get down.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll work on it again tomorrow night.”

“Wow, you were never this patient with me,” I told her.

“Well, I always did want a little brother, and you haven’t always been the easiest pupil,” she told me coming to sit back down next to me at the kitchen table with a bit of a quirk to her smile. We hadn’t told Christian Ana was the one who had turned me; we didn’t think it would turn out well.

“I wasn’t easy to deal with! I think you’re getting our stories confused,” I told her disbelievingly, “Christian, it’s after 10:30 you need to make sure you get home on time, and drive carefully.”

I grabbed his shoes from the counter and brought them to him giving him another tight hug before I let him go. William was leaning against the wall and held his hand up in farewell, Ana gave him a slight nod, and I walked him to the front door.

“You really did do amazing tonight babe, keep practicing with the shoes okay, and I’ll see you tomorrow night. Give Evan and Dad a kiss from me, just don’t you know let them know it’s from me.”

“They miss you too Mom,” Christian said kissing my forehead as he grabbed the doorknob, “and this whole thing really does suck, but I do like Ana and William they seem pretty cool. I’ll see you later.”

He pulled open the door and standing on the front step was Victoria.

I pushed Christian behind me causing him to stumble and instantly bared my fangs at her. I crouched into a fighting position ready to attack, she might
look like a sweet innocent 17-
year-old girl, but she is older than William and Ana both.

“What the hell do you want?” I growled at her, barely able to keep from trying to tear her throat out right then and there.

“William, Ana!” Christian yelled from behind me.

They were both instantly in the room and at my side ready to do whatever was needed. When they saw Victoria standing in the doorway they both dropped their fangs. William came to stand by my side, and Ana put herself in front of Christian effectively protecting him from anything that might happen.

“This is so like them, of course they wouldn’t tell you,” Victoria said rather annoyed.

“Who are you talking about, and tell us what?” William demanded before I could.

“Martin and Sebastian, I’m the newest member of your team,” she said dropping a bag on the porch.

William and Ana seemed to take her word that this was why she was here, I was having none of it. Victoria’s eyes had landed on Christian still safely secure behind the three of us. He hadn’t said anything since her announcement; he seemed to be in shock at seeing her again.

“Hey Christian,” Victoria said a little too meekly, much like a real 17-year-old girl would.

“Christian, it’s time for you to go,” I told him, leaving no room for discussion..

“I can take him home if you want,” Victoria said jumping at the first opportunity that had risen to be alone with him.

It was also all the instigation I needed to lunge at her. I didn’t care who or what she was claiming to be, she had taken part in kidnapping my son, and she was trying to make a move on him. I would kill her before I let that happen.

“You aren’t going anywhere near him!” I reached for her throat with my outstretched hands, but was caught short as William grabbed me by the waist pulling me back.

“Jules, lets calm down while we figure this out.”

“What’s to figure out? I’ve been reassigned here after the three of you killed not only my Sire, but the leader of the Coven. You’re in deep shit, and the only way you are getting out is with my help. Now let me in the house before I call Sebastian and inform him that you aren’t obeying orders.”

“How long have you been working for the Council?” I asked her warily.

“Longer than you have been alive.” All pretense of her being 17 was gone, she was clearly a pissed off vampire.

“I’m not doing this, Christian, let’s go. Ana and I will follow you; I don’t want you getting home late.”

I turned to William making sure this was okay with him; I didn’t have any doubt that he wouldn’t be able to handle Victoria if she was trying to pull something. I did however need to make sure that Christian made it home safely without anyone bothering him. I was about to lean up and kiss William goodbye when I caught myself seeing Christian from the corner of my eye. I couldn’t let him know about William and I. Ana and I slid into the Audi and drove up behind Christian who was waiting for us at the end of the driveway. Before we took off I ran to his window to check on him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” He said looking straight ahead through the windshield.

“Well, you just saw your ex-girlfriend for the first time since discovering she was a vampire, after her and he
r supposed father kidnapped you
in what resulted in you being hospitalized.”

“Yeah, well I’m fine. Can we can go? I’m going to be late.”

“Sure. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, bye,” he said still not looking at me.

I got back into the car and Ana was already on the phone with Sebastian.

“What were you thinking sending her here? You know what she did to Christian . . . that’s still no excuse to bring her around him again . . . this is the problem with all the secrecy Sebastian, if we had known she was part of Sub-Rosa we could have gone to her, and avoided this whole mess in the first place . . . I think you’re enjoying this . . . Fine, but she’s going in the basement!” Ana hung up on him and threw the phone into her purse. She didn’t say anything for a minute, but I didn’t really need her to explain what had just happened.

I looked out the window at the passing cars not really paying attention to them, “So, it’s true then.”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“But can we trust her?” I asked turning to look at Ana. They shared the same sire; she should know Victoria better than anyone.

“Honestly, I really don’t know. Victoria had already been a vampire for 90 years by the time I was turned.”

She didn’t say anything else, but I could tell that there was more to the story. I just watched her and waited knowing Ana mostly kept things to herself, and if she told me anything it would be on her own timing.

“Alright fine!” she said blowing out a big puff of air, “I was living in New England during 1885, my brothers were all much older than me and died during the Civil War, and my husband had just taken a job working for the railroad. It was the country’s Gilded Age.”

She became silent as she started to reminisce on some long forgotten part of her own past, a part that brought a small smile to the curve of her lips. A car sped out in front of us, which didn’t slow her down any, but did break her trance. As she told me her story I kept my eyes trained on the road, and cars around us, looking for any sign of tailing vampires Victoria may have brought along with her.

“One night a couple of drunks had come in looking for a room, and were giving me a hard time, which wasn’t unusual, but they wouldn’t leave.

Nathaniel had just come in looking for a room
as well, and he got them off me,
forcing them to leave. Nathaniel and Victoria stayed around for a few weeks, and I thought I was becoming friends with Victoria. It was becoming peaceful around the boarding house, and I later learned that Victoria had been killing anyone that gave me a hard time. I thought they were just moving on to another port.” She started to shake her head at her being so naïve, so long ago. 

“Anyhow, it wasn’t long until they came to me after closing up and revealed what they were. I think they enjoyed the fear it caused in me, no, now I know they enjoyed it. Nathaniel gave me the choice of coming to him much like he did with you, and I refused. I prayed to God to protect me from him, and that’s when Nathaniel just laughed, and lunged at me. He said he turned me to give Victoria someone to play with. I never knew what to think of her, one moment she was kind and caring, the next she was ripping out the throat of an innocent without thinking twice about it.

Nathaniel hated that I wouldn’t go along with him and Victoria in their killing sprees. I hated what they did. They both truly seemed to enjoy it, but I would often hear Victoria crying at night—even though she always denied it. That’s why when I was approached by Sebastian to join the Council I jumped at it. I fled Nathaniel the first opportunity I got. I have run into them both over the centuries, but I never got to know her enough to know who the real Victoria is. Maybe she was only doing Nathaniel’s bi
d
ding before; maybe she left the first chance she got too.”

“Or maybe she loves everything about the Coven and the way they tear humans apart, and her working for the Council is just a setup,” I replied.

“Yeah, maybe.”

We had followed Christian all the way home without any surprises along the way, he gave us a small wave as he jogged up toward the door, and Ana drove off through the silent neighborhood.

“Ana, I have some research that I need to do on something that might help protect Christian even more, especially now that Victoria is back in the picture. Where can I get some information on my ancestors and how they fought vampires? I also need to get into the medical library by the hospital; do you think we can go tonight?”

“The Council has archives on the vampire hunters; I can contact Martin and Sebastian about getting them. We might have something on them in the books at the house, the same ones that William used to research about the Day Guardians. What are you looking for? I’ve read them all, but it would help narrow down the search if I knew what you wanted, and why the medical library?”

“Christian was good today, really good. I think we need to be training him on hunter techniques, not just how to protect me from humans that might be working with the Coven.”

“You want to train your son how to hunt vampires? You do realize you’re a vampire right, living in a house full of vampires?”

“Give me a break Ana, he isn’t going to try to hurt us, if you thought there was even a chance of it you wouldn’t be helping us, and you certainly wouldn’t be giving him weapons. He’s my son.”

“Fine, maybe it does make sense, but if Sebastian and Martin knew we were teaching him anything more than how to defend you we’d all be in for it.”

“Really? At this point what are they going to do?”

“So you have a point, but why the medical library, what’s so important about that?”

“I want to find a way to get highly concentrated amounts of silver directly into Christian’s bloodstream; without it being harmful to him.”

Ana nearly swerved off the road as she turned to look directly at me, it was the only time I’d ever seen her become unsteady while driving. Even when she would drive at incredibly high speeds she would also maintain her steely exterior, this had certainly startled her.

“Excuse me?” She had managed to straighten out the car, but was still looking at me with those turquoise eyes of hers that said she was not in any way amused by my announcement.

“You heard me; I want to find out how high of a concentration of silver he can safely have in his system that would still be enough to fend off a vampire if bitten. It pretty genius really, the ultimate weapon of last resort. If he can’t fend off an attack, and gets bitten, the vampire will, hopefully, be burned by his blood. If they actually consume any of it, they’ll die from silver poisoning.”

She hadn’t said anything, but I was starting to feel angrier as the silence wore on. It dawned on me that her anger was creeping through our blood-bond like a fog rolling down the streets of Chicago.

“What’s the problem?” I asked her trying to sort out whose emotion was whose.

“The problem is that you don’t seem to realize how incredibly dangerous that is. It’s one thing to teach Christian to fight like a hunter; it’s another thing to literally turn him into a walking weapon. If someone were to taste his blood we would all be found out, we would all be forfeiting our lives.”

“You just said it yourself, that someone might try to taste his blood, and who is going to get that chance if not for the Coven?  I won’t risk him. I would rather expose myself to my entire family, and force them all to flee, than risk having Christian walk into that hellhole unprotected. I won’t do it!”

“You would wouldn’t you. Expose yourself to them, leave William, and forget me. Force us to hunt you down,” she said it as an almost hushed whisper, and I knew she wanted the truth from me.

“You deserve the truth Ana. I did think about doing just that when you had first turned me, a lot actually. But as selfish as you may think I am I wouldn’t force my family to spend the rest of their lives on the run as modern day gypsies. I do want what’s best for them, and for now that’s for me to remain dead. But the day will come when Sebastian is going to want Christian to go into the Coven undercover, and we can hold him off for a little while, but not forever. The truth is I didn’t think I would ever feel at home here with you and William, but that’s what this place is to me now. I don’t want to leave you, but I can’t honestly say what I’ll do if I feel desperate enough.”

We had pulled into the driveway the headlights of the car sweeping over the house as its own sort of sentry. Once Ana pulled into the detached garage out back we just sat in silence.

“I told him I loved him.”

I spoke it into the darkness afraid if I didn’t speak up now I never would. Even though I had never been in a relationship with Ana that didn’t do anything to belay the fact that some small part of me still felt like I was betraying her.

“I know, he already told me. He was practically giddy when he did it. I have never seen him like that before, you may want to keep an eye on him; I have a feeling that love is going to make him stupid,” she told me with a smirk.

“So, you aren’t . . . I don’t know—mad?”

She looked a little taken aback at that, but just looked me full-on as she forced me to look back at her, “I am not upset at your happiness, I don’t blame you for loving him. Sure, I wish things were a little different, but you and I will always have a bond that no one can take away, one that even William can’t have with you. My first priority will always be to protect you, and now that you’ve found a piece of happiness in this world, perhaps, it will be easier for you to step away from your old one.”

I was grateful that she wasn’t angry with me, but the thought that I might truly walk away from my old life—completely—just because I was in love with William was ludicrous. The mere thought of it was starting to make me feel panicky inside, I could never give them up, and I wouldn’t. I had to continue watching over my family, I had to keep them safe!

“Juliana, relax, it isn’t something that you have to do today. I was simply saying that when the time comes William’s presence will make the transition easier for you, that’s all,” she told me with sympathetic eyes.

“Right, yeah, okay,” I was nodding that I understood, that I agreed with her, but I had no idea what she really meant. Could I ever really leave them? Would I if forced to make a choice?

“Are you okay to go inside?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, of course.”

We left the garage and made our way into the house to find William and Victoria sitting in the library on opposite sides of the couch from each other. They had both changed clothes and were dressed up looking like they were ready for a night out. William had on a pair of dark fitted jeans that fit him well enough to be drool worthy; he had forgone the usual black tee shirt, and instead had gone for a black muscle shirt that was living up to its name in every sense of the word. He had a black button up shirt with an intricate silver design on it; he had left it unbuttoned, of course to show off what was underneath.