Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series) (13 page)

W
e spent the next two days spar
r
ing. William decided he couldn’t
talk me out of going after Nathaniel and Victoria so he was going to do whatever he could to prepare me, even if he believed it was a lost cause. He taught me basics of offense and defense, how to anticipate what someone will do next by the muscles twitching in their arms and legs, even their
facial muscles. When we fought we used our full strength, I wouldn’t
allow anything less from him.

Each night after I rose and before we started sparring
,
I would check in on my family. William refused to let me drive the Audi anymore and instead made me run the whole way. He said it was so I could build up my speed, but really I think it was because he was afraid I was going to damage his precious little sports car.

Each night I got to my house I could sense another vampire signature, I wanted to seek them out but William just encouraged me to focus on determining their exact location instead. He said it would help me from being caught off guard if anyone tried to sneak up on me. He let me know when I was right; still it unnerved me, knowing someone else was out there watching them. I was becoming quicker
at determining their correct location, but I wanted to confront them.

William and I hadn’t had a repeat of our night in the library, but we definitely had a closeness that we didn’t have
before. I could sense him better than I ever could
before
, could
anticipate his moves better. William said it was because I was getting better at paying attention to my reflexes, but I had my doubts.

“How do you know it’s because I’m getting better, what if I can only sense
you
better and not everyone else also?” I finally asked him a bit nervously.

“You can find me blindfolded, in a pitch-black field, in the middle of nowhere. Vampire or not
,
the first time you tried that you walked into a tree, I swear you must be the only clumsy vampire that ever existed,” William replied a little too amused.

“Yeah, but how do you know it isn’t just you? How do you know it isn’t just because  . . .   you know . . . of what we did? We’ve shared each other’s blood now, does that mean that we can sense each other better now, sorta like Ana and I?”

The thought of Ana brought on a little pang of sadness that I tried to ignore, she was gone. She’d left me, granted it was for my safety, and Christian's, but I still didn’t
want to think about her.

“Sharing blood does bring us closer together, but you will only ever have that strong emotional bond with Ana. If you and I really worked at it, we could locate one another through our blood, but we would already have to be in close proximity to one another. The bond you and Ana have is more like one of a parent/child, you and I have a lovers bond, it’s just different.”

He was looking at me adoringly
,
and I felt a little guilt for ignoring what we had done. I hadn’t wanted to bring it up, I felt as though I was betraying Antonio and Ana.  I still wasn’t
ready to talk about
it. I just averted my eyes away from his. We were sitting in the tree house in my old backyard watching my house. It was always peaceful here, and I felt I could finally say what had been bothering me.

“I don’t think what Ana wants from me is the bond of a parent/child. I think what she wants from me is the same as what you want from me, I said quietly.

William came over and sat down in front of me, holding my cheek in his hand. “Well
,
we both want you to be safe and happy, so that’s true.”

“You sound like something off of the Lifetime movie channel.” I said rolling my eyes at him, “you know what I mean. She wants more from me than I can give her. I’m willing to work on the whole sire/child thing, as long as she quits treating me like a child, but that’s all I can give her Will.”

I was looking down fidgeting with my nails again. It was an old habit that had crossed over with me. William tilted my chin upwards so I had to look him in the eyes. I felt myself getting lost in the deep brown of them but mostly in the sincerity that was always there for me to find.

“Then tell her that, she’s not as cold as you might think. She’ll understand. I think part of it is the bond anyways; she’s so tied to your emotions that she wants to have a larger part of you. Once that becomes more under control, everything will be easier for both of you. Trust me.”

Just as I was about to answer him I heard Christian’s bedroom window opening, we both turned to look over and saw him sneaking very slowly out his bedroom window and slide smoothly down the siding of the second floor to land on the ground with barely a sound.

“That little . . . where does he think he’s going? It’s three O’clock in the morning!” I hissed, feeling incredulous, that my perfect son would ever do something so teenager like.

I decided to follow him and see what exactly he was up to. The other vamp signature had left a little while ago so I felt safe leaving Antonio and Evan home without me. William and I followed Christian from a good distance back and watched as he quietly made his way through the neighborhood deftly avoiding any hidden obstacles in his way.

“Are you sure he’s your kid?” William whispered to me, “He’s seems really coordinated.”

I just shot William a glare from the corner of my eye and watched as Christian made his way onto the main street off our neighborhood.  There was a car waiting for him, it was slightly hidden behind a cluster of oak trees.  My anger at him for sneaking out was steadily increasing and my anxiousness at not being able to track him was reaching the point of becoming incapacitating.

“We can’t let him get in that car!” I frantically told William.

“Jules
—
stop
—
you can’t help him if you can’t keep a level head. He’s just acting like a kid, you need to relax.” William had grabbed me by the shoulders and was trying to get my attention.

“Really? Relax? While my son who has a sociopath after him, sneaks off out of sight where I can’t protect him!”

I was beginning to let my emotions get the better of me, I understood that in my mind, I just couldn’t
make the rest of me understand that it wasn’t
helping. I sped up my pace trying to keep up with the car. They kept getting caught in traffic and hitting all the red lights so I really wasn’t
having that hard of a time at it. It was more the principle of the matter, I might technically be dead, but I was still his mother, and I was pissed
off that he was sneaking off behind our, I mean Antonio’s, back.

“You know if someone would let us drive his car I wouldn’t be so freaked out right now. I’d just be pissed off at that little pain-in-the-ass,” I snapped at William.

“Hey! We’re keeping up with him just fine, besides think of this as training in tracking someone down. You aren’t always going to have a car available to you, you know.”

I chose to ignore him and his little teaching moment, instead focusing on where the car was heading. They had turned off onto a side street and there was a shopping plaza up ahead. Everything was closed
at this hour, but there was a small diner open at the opposite end of the parking lot.

“That must be where they're headed,” I murmured distractedly.

“See, nothing has ever happened from craving pancakes at three in the morning.” William told me jokingly.

“Why are you making light of this? You’re the one constantly telling me how dangerous a situation we’re in. Besides don’t you feel that? We aren’t the only ones here.”

We were on the opposite end of the parking lot from the car right now. They had indeed pulled into the ‘Lazy Dayz Diner’ and Christian was getting out with a group of friends who I recognized. I was busy scanning the tops of the buildings surrounding us, the empty doorways of the closed up shops, looking for anything that might lead me to where the other vampire signature was coming from. It was just a slight tingling at the back of my neck
,
one I almost dismissed entirely, but the longer I stood there, the stronger it was becoming.

“Don’t you feel it?” I asked William again without looking at him, still looking for its source instead.

I started moving toward Christian and his friends.  Regardless of where the vamp was, I knew where I needed to be to protect him, and that was as close to him as I could get.

“No, I don’t sense any—wait. I feel it. How did you pick that up before me? That shouldn’t be possible. It’s getting stronger by the second . . .”

He saw where I was headed
and fell in step beside me. Whoever this was we were going to find out together. Just before we reached the diner, a small red Honda Civic pulled into the parking lot. Christian was obviously waiting outside for someone
,
and it appeared that someone had arrived. The car door opened and out came a cute 17
y
ear-old girl who
looked as sweet as could be. Her face broke out into an ear-to-ear grin as Christian came forward to take her hand.

“Victoria,” I said murderously.

I had never seen Christian looking so happy, so in love. His face lit up upon seeing her, and he bent down to give her a quick familiar kiss. Apparently this wasn’t
the first time they had snuck out together. I thought back on the other times I had seen Christian leaving the house late
and was angry with myself for not having done something to stop it. If she wasn’t
out to take his life I could
have admitted that they looked good together. Christian was
16 but had the Italian good looks of his father; he was tall, lean and had
a nice tan that made his olive complexion stand out even more. His dark brown hair was a little longer than he normally wore it, but it made him look that much cuter. He had the same dark brown eyes of his father, I felt like I was staring
at his miniature. They were both incredibly handsome
,
and I knew what Nathaniel meant when he said that Christian's beauty is what had drawn Victoria in.

Just as Christian and Victoria were about to enter the diner, Victoria turned and looked over her shoulder shooting a look at William and I that was absolutely venomous. I made a move to go toward her when William grabbed my arm stopping me.

“Jules, you can’t go in there. We can’t risk Christian catching even a glimpse of you. It will mess with his mind and drive him crazy.” Victoria just shot me a disdainful smirk as she drew Christian closer to her side as they walked into the restaurant.

I felt a stronger tingling to the back of my neck and spun around the instant before Nathaniel would have been at my back. A brief flicker of surprise glinted in his eyes that was gone just as quickly. I knew he was shocked
that he didn’t
catch me off guard, especially
since I was so pre-occupied with Christian and Victoria.

“Checking up on the young love birds are we?” Nathaniel said with a fatherly grin.

“Oh, yes they look very much in love. Too bad she’s a lying, murderous bitch with a psychopath for a sire; otherwise I just might take her home to bake apple pie,” I said with a loving smile all my own.

Willi
am put his hand on my arm, I as
sume
d
to keep me from attacking, “Juliana,” he said softly under his breath.

Nathaniel’s smile got even bigger and more genuine. I think he might like that I defy him.
Great
.

“Have you considered my offer? You come with me willingly, and I’ll tell Victoria to leave Christian alone.”

I stood there giving him an appraising look
.
William was so sure that I should talk to him, try to reason with him. Ana insisted that it couldn’t
be done
,
that I needed to kill him. Before she left she said that he would come after my family no matter what decision I made. William opened his mouth about to say something on my behalf I’m
sure, but I cut him off.

“Yes. I’ve considered your offer.”

I received looks of surprise from both of them
and felt
William's
hand tighten ever so slightly on my arm.

“And?” Nathaniel asked cocking his head to the side.

“And, I think I need to go home and sharpen some more stakes because there is no way in hell I am letting you anywhere near me or my son.”

I let my complete vampire guise fall, my fangs were fully visible, eyes black.

“You will regret this,” He said still maintaining his human façade, but not
bothering
to hide his anger anymore.

“Oh, I already regret meeting you. Have a great day Mr. Retta; now go get your ‘daughter’ away from my son right now, before I do it for you.”

He gave me one last look like he was making a decision. He finally flashed over to the entrance of the diner and came out with Victoria in tow, screaming like a teenager that was just caught sneaking out of the house. They climbed into the Honda Civic and peeled out of the parking lot, only after I couldn’t sense either of them, and it stayed that way, did I begin to relax.