Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) (24 page)

“None of you,” I said slowly making sure to again make eye contact with all of them,
connecting my will to theirs,
“will have any recollection . . . of any part of this evening. You do not know what happened to those people,” again I pushed my will deep into their minds
.
I could feel the electricity surrounding me
.
I was almost afraid that if someone
touched me they would be electrocuted. “You
have no idea why you are hiding
. . .” one last penetrating look
that reach
ed
into them and ben
t
their will to mine
, locking away their memories
; my
entire body was trembling just trying to hold myself
upright;
“you will remember nothing of anyone here. Do you . . . understand?” I
could barely whisper
out the last.

“Yes,”
the group answered in unison.

“Good. I release you.”

I collapsed to the ground and heard a man’s voice yell behind me.

“Stop! Police. Put your hands up!”

I couldn’t respond or look behind me. I just felt the sudden whipping of a wind storm and the comforting blanket of darkness surround
me.

I woke up to the sound of voices arguing and the tangy smell of fear in the air. It took me a moment more to become oriented, but I quickly realized that the fear was coming from Christian, and the yelling was Martin and Sebastian.

I sprung up from where I was laying fangs instantly bared.

We were all in the library. I had been laid out on the couch and I could tell the situation was serious. William was standing firmly by Christian’s
side, his eyes black as night, fangs visible through his clenched lips.
Ana and Victoria were left to pace along the back wall
Ana
interjecting
her
protests from there. They all stopped to look at my sudden awakening.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

Martin’s eyes didn’t stray from Christian as he answered, “
We
are just trying to figure out why your son saved
the life of our enemy.”

“We also want to know how long they have been working together, but since we can’t compel him to find out we must use other means to discover the truth. Except William refuses to hand him over,” Sebastian spat out in disgust.

I flashed over to Christian’s other side before anyone could reach out to stop me. I saw the dried blood on Ana’s face and knew she had tried to get to him hersel
f,
and failed.

“He isn’t working with the Coven. Tonight is the first time he has ever met any vampires other than us and it was at your order, Sebastian,” I told him with a deadly calm.

I was still weak, but better than when I was kneeling on the side of the road. I didn’t care if it killed me; I would do anything necessary to stop them from even touching Christian.
I pulled my compulsion to me once
again;
perhaps I could compel them to leave Christian alone. Except instead of the
lightning
str
ength I normally had, I felt
only
a sputtering of control. There would be no way I could hold either Martin or Sebastian tonight.

“Then why did he save
Michael’s life?”

“I told you! It was just instinct, I caught the stake and
swung at the vampire that was about to attack us. I thought I was protecting my Mom not Michael!” Christian yelled at them exasperated.

“Or perhaps you think if vampires are revealed to the world your mother and father will be
permitted
to be together again, is that the real reason you saved him?
Are you a turncoat, Christian
?”
Martin
asked stepping closer,
but
before he could get
close enough to touch Christian
William stepped in the way. I noticed he was staying out of the argument, but was still protecting
Christian
nonetheless.

William and Martin were contradictions of every kind.

Where William was tall and lean, Martin was short and stocky, William’s pale white skin made Martin’s seem to soak up the light with its darkness. Neither of them were lacking in strength or power
, regardless of the difference in their
physicality
,
and I wondered who would win if it came down to a fight.

“You know Sebastian it’s you that has been noticeably absent every time we
’
ve needed you in a hurry. I think it’s you that should be answering these questions
,
not my son
.
”

Sebastian turned to me fangs bared, “I don’t need to answer to any of you, Mrs. Lucio, and if you want the lives of the rest of your family to remain intact I would remember that.”

“
You’re
threatening my family because you can’t do your job!” I yelled at him, but
I doubt I was very threatening with the fatigue rearing its ugly head.

“My job is none of your concern and since you haven’t gained any information I think you all should be pulled from this assignment tonight!” Sebastian yelled back.

“She ha
s
t
o gotten information
,
I watched her
compel three vampires tonight. I also overheard them talking about their plans,” Christian retorted.

“What plans?” Martin asked.

“Give us your wo
rd not to touch my brother and d
ad.”

“We already have. They are being guarded are they not?”

“Yeah, well it sounds like they are being held hostage more than anything.”

“I give you my word, but I highly doubt you saw your mother compel three vampires. There would not have been enough time for that,” Sebastian interjected before Martin had the chance to respond.

“Sebastian, I compelled them. Why in the hell do you think I am so drained; besides how would you know how long I had to do it anyways?”

“
Well, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll find out what’s going on soon enough myself,” Martin said turning to look at all of us.

“What’s that supposed to me
an
?” Victoria said speaking up for the first time.

“I’m moving in. S
omeone needs to keep a closer
eye on all of
you;
it might as well be me.”

“We are definitely
going to need a bigger house if this keeps up
,” William mumbled unhappily.

“Well, no matter what you think is or isn’t going on I have to get Christian home. He should have been home already. We can deal with the rest of this tomorrow night. Christian, go grab your bag.”

Christian shot furtive glances throughout the room. I don’t think he believed Martin and Sebastian were really going to let him go, but no one tried to stop him while I sat on the couch waiting for him to grab his things.

“Juliana, you are in no condition to be taking Christian anywhere. I’ll bring him home and call a feeder for you while I’m out,” Ana said bracing for an argument.

I knew she was right though, I was barely keeping myself upright on the couch.

“Fine, just do me a favor and make sure to bring his inhaler back with you. I told him I would look at it for him. His asthma has been acting up since working out with Will.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Christian jumped down the last of the stairs ready to get out of the house as quickly as he could. He gave me a quick hug and nodded goodbye to William, which was an improvement over how he was acting toward him earlier. He stopped in front of Victoria as if he wanted to say something to her before he left, but thought better of it considering his audience.

“I’ll see you later, Victoria,” Christian said quietly then turned to face Ana ready to leave.

Ana and Christian left out the kitchen’s side door, letting it clap shut behind them. The rest of us were left sitting in the library surrounded by an uncomfortable silence. This entire operation had quickly dissolved into an us versus them scenario, and with all of us distrusting each other no wonder the Coven was so far ahead.

“I don’t know about everyone else, but I am beat. I think I’ll go ahead and call it a night,” Victoria started sauntering off toward her room. I was grateful she spoke up first, I knew if I brought up going to bed no matter how drained I was Martin and Sebastian both would have denied me. 

My head felt heavy, I was having trouble focusing. I couldn’t remember why I was having trouble trusting Sebastian or was it Martin? All I really knew for sure was that I was only going to get better if I had blood, human blood and a full day’s sleep.

“I’m taking her to her room
,
send the feeder up when they get here,” William said lifting me into his arms.

“I believe her feeder just left,” Sebastian replied lazily through a thick foggy haze so I couldn’t be sure he really said it.

“Excuse me?” William asked sharply.

“Her feeder. He just left, we can’t have the coven asking questions if they hear that another feeder was sent to the house for her can we? She’ll survive I’m sure.”

“And just who would tell the Coven that a feeder was here, Sebastian? Why don’t you find one that isn’t spying and send them over. Should you need to discuss with Michael our every movement, lie and tell him the feeder was for me.”

“Are you insinuating something, William? Don’t forget your place because of a woman!”

“Just send the feeder up when they get here, the door will be open.”

William took me up to my room and laid me on the bed curling up beside me. I didn’t dare close my eyes; I knew if I did I wouldn’t wake up again until tomorrow night.

“Do you think it worked?”

“Do I think what worked?”  William was running his hands through my hair, brushing it out of my eyes.

“You know, compelling all those humans. I sorta passed out at the end, do you think it worked? Will Christian be safe?”

His mouth tightened until his lips became a long slash, his brows furrowed creating lines in between his eyes as he seemed to really be thinking about what had happened.

“To be honest, Jules, I don’t think Christian will ever truly be safe, but the scariest part of tonight was that I do think you were able to compel all five humans at once. Is what Christian said true, did you compel Michael’s vamps tonight?”

“Yeah, I had too. I believed Victoria when she said I wouldn’t be able to control Michael and I had a small window where he left the house. There were three vamps in the room with Christian, if I compelled only one of them then the others would know what
I
was doing and call me out on it.” I looked over to William seeing him think through what I was telling him, “you see my problem right? It was all or none of them. We’re desperate and it was a risk I was willing to take. Michael had just told me about the production centers and I couldn’t get a hold of Sebastian, I needed to find out whatever I could--”

“Wait, you had tried to get in contact with Sebastian tonight?”

“Yeah, Michael had just started telling me about the production centers when he got a call and went outside to take it. I thought if I went running back to you it would look bad, I didn’t see Ana or Victoria anywhere, so I ran upstairs and tried to call Sebastian twice. I finally gave up and called Martin. He said he was going to send some Council vamps our way to track where the Coven vamps went after we left, this way we could see if they led to more meeting houses.”

“When the mob broke out I tried to call for backup, but Sebastian told me that there weren’t any other Council members in the city. That was why I was shocked when help arrived. I didn’t realize that vamp next to you and Christian was Council right away, otherwise I might not have thrown Christian that stake. If I had waited, Michael would be dead and we could be done with all of this.”

“Yes or the Council vamp could have killed Michael then turned on me because he would have thought I was Coven.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter now either way, what’s done is done. We just have to convince Martin and Sebastian that there was no subterfuge on our part.”

We continued to lay there waiting for Ana to return, hopefully with a feeder in tow. My gums started to ache from the tension of my fangs yearning to spring. The earlier fatigue I was experiencing had been replaced by complete and utter weakness, I don’t think I could walk across the room let alone go out and hunt if it was required.

“Can I use your blood again? It helped me last time.”

“It’s been too long since you’ve had human blood, you need to feed properly now. Once you are strong again you can use me any way you want though,” he finished on a laugh.

“I don’t think it matters what type of situation we are in, you will always be ready and able won’t you,” I couldn’t help but laugh back with him.

It was then that Ana came in, pharmacy bag in hand she shut the door behind her, making it known to both of us that she had something to say. I looked her over and for once she wasn’t putting on the cool façade of an all knowing, unworried visage. I could sense her fear trickling through our bond and was worried that something else had happened since she left.

“What is it Ana?”

She held out the pharmacy bag like it was evidence of a crime worthy of cable news.

“Christian insisted the entire way home that he does not nor has he ever had asthma,” she hissed at me in a whisper. I just could tell that she wanted to yell at me, but was afraid of raising any more suspicions.

I smiled back
at
her which sent a wave of annoyance through our blood bond
almost causing me to laugh, excep
t I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t hurt an already weakened vampire.

“He doesn’t,” I told her still smiling.

“Then why did you tell me to bring you his inhaler?”

“Because I knew you would figure out that I wanted you to bring me an inhaler, which I can see you did so thanks.”

I just looked back at her getting to enjoy frustrating her, it did
n’t
happen often enough in my opinion.

“If you don’t explain yourself right now, I’m going to crush this into particles so small you will never know it was even here.” Now she was the one smiling.

“Wait how did you get an inhaler if Christian doesn’t really have asthma? What am I missing?”

“I’m a doctor remembe
r? I wrote a prescription for it.
The question, William, is
what are
we
missing?”

This time they both turned to look at me one set of eyes curious
,
another ticked off at not knowing what the hell was going on.

“Start talking, Juliana, or I’m sending the feeder downstairs home.”

“Alright, alright there’s no reason to resort to threats. So, you both know I’ve been working on getting silver into Christian’s blood stream, well, I was able to figure out the safe amount of silver for a human and how much it would take to harm a vampire, but not how to get it into him. The solution to administering the silver hit me as I passed out earlier. With the increasing tension I think it’s more important than ever that I finish, but Ana I think I’m gonna need your help.”

The confliction in Ana’s eyes was showing
. S
he was trying to maintain her distance from what I was doing so she could claim ignorance she had no knowledge I were caught, but the truth of the matter was
,
if I were caught we would all be blamed
.
All of lives would be at risk
whether she really knew or not.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll help you anyway I can.”

“Thank you Ana, thank you so much.”

I could have kissed her I was so happy, but luckily a soft knock at the door broke the opportunity. Ana gave me a small smile acknowledging my gratitude then strode over to answer the door. On the other side of the threshold stood a very tall, very large man
.
H
e was so big he had to duck down to miss hitting his head on the door frame as Ana stepped back allowing him into the room. William immediately sat up as the man got closer to the bed; I wasn’t sure if
he
was threatened by him or if he had just never seen anyone so big.

“Hello,” I said looking up at him.

“Hello, Ma’am.” He was the softest spoken man I had ever heard speak. He stood just at the edge of my bed with his hands dangling at his sides, just patiently waiting, like he could wait for me all night if necessary and he wouldn’t really be bothered by it.

“What’s your name?” I asked him with genuine curiosity.

“John, Ma’am.”

Ana was smirking in the corner watching us with her hip cocked out and hands resting on them. William still hadn’t said anything, but I could feel his eyes glued on me.

“John, do you think you could come down here? I’m feeling a bit out of it tonight.”

He didn’t say anything, but he sat on the side of the bed, his weight pushing the bed down sent me rolling into him and causing me to yell out. William jumped up and pulled
me
back flashing his fangs at John. I could hear Ana stifling a laugh in the corner.

“Will, relax it was just an accident,” I said pushing off him.

“Are you ready, John?” His heart was beating slow and steady—it was a strong heart.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said turning his head to the side.

I was sitting next to him on the bed and I leaned over to reach toward his neck, but I couldn’t reach. I stretched higher and tried again, he was too tall for my short stature.

“I could sit sideways across your lap maybe?”

“No,” William blurted out.

“Come on, William she needs more blood than she
can
get from a wrist. What do you think is going to happen?” Ana asked still staying on the opposite side of the room.

I finally manage
d
to reach John’s neck by sitting on my knees and leaning across John, it was awkward, but it kept William happy. At the first gush of blood from John’s throat I could taste the potency of his strength and knew it was equal to his physical size. I started to feel my own strength being returned to me at once and knew this was why Ana had chosen this feeder for me. I let my eyes roam along the almond colored skin of his face and neck, the long length of his dark eye
lashes
and as my strength further returned to me I wonder
ed
who this quiet man was.

I tried to glean some information from him, but there were no memories to be taken from his blood. I didn’t know if it was because he was like Christian and me or if he was just able to block me, but either way his secret was going to be safe with me. I pulled back from him with a lick to the wound I had caused. He didn’t look at me, but I still hadn’t moved from him and it wasn’t in him to harm a woman by pushing me off him—vampire or not.

I waited until he finally gave me his eyes. They were so dark they could almost be mistaken for black.

“Thank you, John,” I looked him firmly in the eye with my own that were no doubt getting their own green glow back thanks to him.

“You, a
re welcome.”

I moved off him allowing him to go.

“You always do that,” William commented as John was leaving.

“It’s because I am always grateful, Will. After all, I would be dead without having a human to feed from. I owe that man my life the very least I can do is say thank you.”