Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) (17 page)

Victoria spoke up asking the question on all of our minds.

“How are we supposed to get Christian into the Coven in the first place?”

Martin looked me directly in the eye as if daring me to challenge him, “He’s going as your personal feeder.”

I knew I bore a look of pure malice on my face, but really it was already proven there was nothing I could do about the situation. I had agreed to this after all. I looked at Martin with fury seeping from my pores as he was the very cause of all of this.

“Christian call your father tell him you are staying with a friend this weekend. Every minute we are awake you will training.”

I began pacing the room as he pulled out his phone and called his dad—my husband, ex-husband, former husband, what was he to me exactly now that I had turned? I started making a mental checklist for all the things I neede
d to do: get food for Christian
and figuring out how to get silver into his system were at the top of my list. Christian’s speaking pulled me out of my thoughts and I was curiously aware that all the eyes in the room were on me.

“So, it’s cool then if I stay with my friend Will this weekend?  . . . Sure, his folks are gonna be here . . . okay have fun  . . . Hey Dad! Where’s Evan at?  . . .  Oh, alright. Bye.”

Christian turned to me with a hidden sort of sadness in his eyes, “Dad said it’s cool if I stay.”

“Okay, good.”

What I didn’t tell him was everyone else in the room could hear the other side of the conversation just as well as he did. I didn’t mention the happiness in Antonio’s voice when he said he and Talia were going away for the weekend or the disregard for Christian’s unknown friend to whom he had just given Christian permission to stay with. Antonio was starting to move on, I understood that; Christian didn’t.

“Mr. Harris is there anything else?”

“No
,
I think that’ll
do
for now
.
I want a report as soon as you have anything
of importance
.”

“As always. You know you really didn’t have to travel all the way from New York to tell us this you could have called.”

“Who says I live in New York? Have a good night everyone and Mrs. Lucio try not to blow everyone’s cover.”

He left the house just as abruptly as he came. Before the door had even shut completely I was running up the stairs to my room. I wasn’t alone because they all decided to follow me.

“What are you doing?” Victoria was the first to ask.

“I’m getting dressed if you don’t mind.”

I looked around and kicked William’s shoes under the bed before Christian had a chance to find them lying on my floor.

“Look I want you to help train
Christian;
he needs to be able to protect himself
not me
.”

I wasn’t getting dressed with an audience so I went into my closet pulling the door shut behind me. I threw on the first pair of jeans and tee-shirt that I found. I walked out to find all four of them standing with their arms crossed over their chests.

“Do you all practice that?”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ana was quick to ask.

“You don’t give me orders,” Victoria said right on her heals.

“Oh give me a break; I have an errand to run and Victoria you
said
that you want Christian protected so go teach him.”

I started looking, once again, for my shoes.
What did William do with them?

“Have you seen my running shoes?” I looked sharply at William as I asked.

“If you have to go anywhere you will wear the heels as we have discussed before. Where are you going?”

“The grocery store.”

“What’s this crap about me not protecting you? That is the reason I’m here.”

“Watch your language Christian. The reason you are here is because you are my son and I love you more than life itself.
You
need protecting against vampires, not me.”

“I can help you—”

“The way you can help me is by not letting me worry about you. It is possible for a human to defend themselves against a vampire. I know this because
we come from a line of vampire
hunters. You need to learn how to defend yourself; let William teach you.”

When he stood there not saying anything I turned pleading eyes on William, “Please, Will I have to go. Take Christian and get started.”

He was looking at me with that infuriatingly expressionless look of his that gave away nothing of what he was thinking.

“Fine. Your shoes are in the hamper. Victoria
,
you are helping me with Christian. Ana
,
go with Juliana.”

“The hamper, Will, really?”

William started laughing as he, Victoria and Christian headed downstairs to get
to
work.

I turned to Ana, “I’m glad you’re coming with
,
since I’m not allowed to have a real job that means you’re buying.”

As soon as we made it outside she broke her silence, “So, where are we really going?”

“I told you the grocery store. We need to get Christian some food.”

“Where else?”

“The medical supply store.”

“Why?” She ground out between her teeth.

“What if he injures himself sparring,” I was all innocence, “and we need a microscope, some slides, a few syringes, blood tubes you know all the standard stuff.” I finished a bit evasively.   

Ana stopped walking, which in turn forced me to stop as well.

“You’re going to do it aren’t you. You’re going to get silver into his system.”

“Yes, I am.”

I looked at her unapologetically this time, “I will arm him in every possible way regardless of the risk it poses to myself or anyone else.”

“You are going to do it no matter what?”

“No matter what.”

“I don’t know if I should report this or wish I had someone that cared this much about me when I was a human.”

“Ana I’d do whatever I could to save you too, don’t report it. There is a spy somewhere, just tell them you gave me a ride to get some band-aids.”

“That’ll be awfully big box of band-aids.”

“How will they know the difference? When’s the last time a vampire needed a band-aid?”

“You are seriously pushing it Juliana.”

“Well, you might as well get used to it you’re going to be stuck with me for a long time.”

“With the way you do things, it might not be as long as you think.”

I didn’t have an argument for her so we just made the rest of our way to the garage having to walk around the Range Rover still sitting on its roof, then we stepped over the mangled handle bars of William’s bike.

“How do suppose Christian explained this mess to the fire department?”

“I don’t know, but William had better stop destroying all my favorite things.”

When we opened the door my jaw dropped. The hood of the Audi was lined with scorch marks and covered with a white sticky mess from the foam the fire department sprayed to keep the fire from reigniting. There was water dripping from the ceiling and walls soaking everything. It was immediately apparent they were very thorough in making sure the fire was completely out.

“William is going to freak out when he sees this.”

“I don’t think I want to be around for that one,” I told her.

We made a quick run to the grocery store grabbing all of Christian’s favorite foods
,
on our way back we stopped
at
a medical supply depot and the university supply store. Ana stayed in the car for both of our last two stops; I think she wanted plausible deniability. Once we made it back home we ran the boxes up to my room and hid them in the closet. We were in agreement that no one else should know what I was doing.

I made Christian a sandwich back in the kitchen along with a big glass of iced tea. The simple tasks making me feel all at once at home. I crept down t
he stairs to bring him his food, but
trying not to interrupt at the same time.

Christian was standing in the middle of the sparring mat fending off William, looking unquestionably human. Sweat was dripping profusely from his head and face making a trail of tiny rivulets to gather on his shirtless chest. I was surprised at how lean and muscular he was
. H
e had changed out of his jeans and into a pair of William’s workout pants and it struck me how much he looked like his father. He was right
,
he wasn’t my little boy anymore.

I continued to watch as Christian’s face was set in a mask of determination his eyes never straying from William
’
s. William was slowly moving in to Christian’s space and it looked like he was about to make a final move when like an apparition Victoria appeared behind him, not
a breath later Christian rolled,
effectively moving himself out of reach of both of them. I could see why he was sweating so much they
were
working him out physically and mentally.

“Hey Ma, that for me?”

“Yeah, it’s for you,” I told him smiling.

He padded over with bare feet kissing me on the cheek at the same
time
he took the plate from me. He hungrily ate the sandwich and drank down the tea, it didn’t escape my notice that Victoria was looking at him with eyes just as hungry. Christian used his discarded shirt to dry off with and looked up at me.

“You nearly cost me that round you know. You came down the stairs and it made me lose track of where Victoria was.”

“You can actually sense where in the room she is not just her
presence
?”

“Sorta, that’s what we’re trying to work on.”

“It looks like you’re doing a great job.”

“He is but we still have more work to do,” William replied.

“Okay, I take it that not so subtle hint means I need
to leave
?”

“Yes.”

I took Christian’s empty plate and left him a bottle of water. As I climbed the stairs I whispered, “thank you, Will. Love you.” Low enough that Christian couldn’t hear me. Just before the door closed behind me I heard, “You too babe.”

“Hey Ana!” I yelled into the open space of the house not sure where she had gone off to. She stepped out of the kitchen looking more than annoyed.

“It really isn’t necessary for you to yell
. Y
ou can whisper much like you just did with William and I will still hear you just fine.”

“Sorry,” I told her a little sheepishly.

“Whatever Juliana. What is all this stuff you bought?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never made a cake before?”

“What reason would I have to prepare human food?”

“Even if that was a bit condescending I’ll let it slide, let’s go.”

“Go where we just got back.”

“We’re making a cake, c’mon.”

Ana and I had real fun for the first time since being together. She was utterly grossed out by the slimy feel of egg whites under her fingers. I thought it was hilarious. She tried to deny that she was having fun, but I knew deep inside this was the first real thing she has done in a very long time. Something I hadn’t considered was a cake pan, we didn’t own any. As soon as we realized this Ana disappeared and showed up a minute later.

“Where did you get that?”

“I borrowed it from the neighbor.”

William, Victoria and Christian emerged from below as soon as we finished frosting the cake.

“What’s that smell?” William asked.

“You can’t be serious, that’s a cake,” Christian was looking at him like he was crazy.

Just as they rounded the corner Ana and I yelled out, “Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks, but you do realize my birthday isn’t until next week right?”

“Of c
ourse I do, but we’re together now
. S
o want a piece of cake?”

“Heck yeah I’m starving.”

I cut him a huge slice of the chocolate cake with extra frosting and poured a big glass of milk for him, we all sat watching him eat it.”

“Aren’t you going to have any? It’s really good, Mom you love chocolate.”

“Christian, we—” William started, but I cut him off.

“
Absolutely
, I just wanted to see if Ana screwed it up that’s all. It’s her first cake.”

“Jules, you—”

“C’mon Will, one small piece can’t hurt.”

I cut a small piece of cake and sat by Christian. He smiled brightly making everything feel somewhat normal again. I scooped off a corner with my fork.

“Juliana, you really shouldn’t . . .” Ana started to warn me.

“Oh, it’s her son’s birthday cake,” Victoria stopped her, “one small piece can’t hurt.”

I put the bite of cake into my mouth and instead of tasting devilishly good chocolate with extra gooey frosting—I tasted dirt with a side of vomit. I opened my eyes wide and forced myself to chew the once decadent, and now repulsive, birthday tradition. Ana and William were both cringing along with me as they had obviously been here before.