“I see,” I said swallowing audibly, “have you talked to William tonight?”
“Yes, he informed me of your childish, irate, selfish, un-called for show of anger, and your refusal to allow him to explain the situation to you. Is that what you’re referring to?”
The turquoise blue of her eyes that I loved so much was slowly receding as the blackness of her anger was taking over. They usually turned black with our hunger, desire, or anger, it wasn’t hard to tell what the cause was this time. If we weren’t in public there is no doubt she would have tried to throw me through a wall by now. I wasn’t going to let her intimidate me any longer no matter how pissed off she was; I had been doing that for long enough, and I was pissed off myself.
“Good, I’m glad you spoke with him. That means you know I won’t be coming back. And finding out the people you trusted, that you had grown to care about were really betraying you all along is not an ‘un-called for’ reason to be angry. I’d say it’s a pretty damn good one!”
“We were not betraying you! When will you stop arguing long enough to listen?”
“William said you two are part of the Council, is this true?”
“Yes, but--”
“Is this the same Council that ordered you to kill me?
“Yes, but--”
“Then I’ve heard enough. You can let the rest of your Council know I’ve erased Christian’s memory. He has no recollection of Victoria, Nathaniel, or of ever seeing me. You can leave him and the rest of my family alone.”
“How is that possible? Victoria couldn’t compel him.”
“Yes, well could Victoria compel a 400 year-old master vampire? It’s done, so leave him alone.”
She eyed me for a second, not sure if she should believe me or not. I didn’t put any compulsion behind my statement, as my sire she was even more sensitive to when I was using it, so I needed to be careful. I knew she was feeling out my emotions, trying to gauge the truth behind my words.
“Well, since I’ve passed on the message there’s no need for me to go home--, I mean to your house anymore. I’ll get my things later.”
She still hadn’t said anything, and let me pass her as I left. I felt her eyes on me as I walked out the exit, and could feel her lingering sadness trailing behind me. Once I made it outside I flagged the nearest taxi. The driver was an old Middle Eastern man whose scent was wreathed in tobacco leaves. I could smell the underlying sweetness of his blood calling to me.
“Hello, ma’am? I said where to?”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t hear you. The nearest hotel please.”
Attempting to compel Christian took a lot out of me, I didn’t generally feed every day, and already for the second time tonight I was noticing a stranger’s blood. The driver took me to a small slightly rundown hotel about a mile and a half away from the hospital. I paid the driver with the last of my cash and made my way inside the hotel lobby.
Though ‘lobby’ was definitely an overstatement, the place was dark and empty of any lingering customers, if they even had any. There was a sign on the desk telling me to ring the bell for service, after waiting around for almost five minutes a young clerk came to the front carrying a greasy slice of pizza in his hand.
“Help you?” he mumbled around a full mouth.
“Yeah, I need a room.”
“We don’t rent by the hour lady, and no cash.” He told me this as he moved a sign around in front of me indicating as much.
“Excuse me? Do I look like a hooker to you?” I was pissed and I was sure my eyes were as equally black as Ana’s had been earlier, but right then I didn’t really care.
“Um, no?”
I glanced at his crooked name tag, “No’s right, Joe, but what I am is pissed off, tired, and hungry. So I suggest you find me a room before I make you my dinner.”
I had started leaning over the counter toward him without realizing it, and the clerk dropped his slice of pizza. My eyes began to trail a bead of sweat making its way down the man’s temple to his jaw, and then flowing along the length of his neck where I could hear the beating of his heart rapidly picking up the pace. The bell above the door indicating someone had just walked in started to jingle, startling the man enough to jump.
“Honey, did you get us a room yet?”
I slowly turned my head, while still leaning across the counter to see William walking in the front door. He gave the clerk a charming smile and nodded at him.
“Hey, Man how’s it going? Did you find us a room? Sorry if the wife got a little cranky with you, you know how it is when they get hungry.” He gave the clerk a sort of guy code wink and laughed in my direction, while I shot him daggers with my eyes.
“Anyhow, all I’ve got is cash. Is that cool?”
“Yeah man, whatever you got. Room eight, on the end,” he said as he reached below the counter for the room key. William tossed some cash on the counter, which more than covered the cost, and reached for my elbow. I immediately pulled away.
“Keep the change,” William told the man brusquely.
Just as we were about to hit the door William stopped and turned to face the guy, “Hey you don’t by chance have some extra blankets do you? You know how it is, wife’s a blanket hog, I’ll probably end up on the floor even.”
“Anything you want man, in the cupboard.”
“Thanks, do you have a hammer in there too? Some nails maybe? I’ve got to nail something on the back of the truck.”
“Yeah, in the cupboard. Take whatever.” He pointed him in the right direction, and when William was finally done raiding the man’s cupboard we walked outside where I immediately turned on him.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
He grabbed my arm, turning me back toward the direction of the room.
“What I’m always doing Jules, saving your ass. Now get inside” he said as he held the door open.
“Don’t think you’re staying the night, and you weren’t saving me from anything. I’ve done just fine out on my own tonight.”
He was already on his way to the window and was pulling the curtain shut, he grabbed the hammer, nails, and blanket, and began nailing the blanket over the window.
“What are you doing?”
“Making the room sun-proof or had you planned on doing that yourself?”
He was putting the nails all along the outer edges of the blanket ensuring no sunlight would be able to penetrate through to the room. Next, he went into the bathroom, seemingly satisfied there were no windows he came out with the towels, and proceeded to tear them into long strips.
“What the hell are you doing now?”
He didn’t answer and instead just gave me a look that said he was not happy with me. He went over to the door and started to nail it shut, and that’s when I really lost it.
“I said you aren’t staying here!”
“Well, I paid for the room. That makes it mine, and I say I am; like it or not.”
He shoved the only chair in the room under the door knob then proceeded to nail a blanket over the door. The room would be 100% sun-proof come morning. He pulled off his leather jacket and threw it into the corner of the room revealing a tight black t-shirt, like he usually wore. The kind that showed off his abs and muscular arms so well. I will not think about that, he is the enemy! He didn’t stop to look at me as he bent to pick up the pieces of the towel he tore earlier. I was still standing near the door with my hands on my hips trying to figure out a way to get him to leave.
“Now what are you doing? Ah!”
He flashed over to me faster than I could even track and stuffed the smaller pieces of the towel into my mouth, while slamming me onto the bed at the same time. I tried to struggle against him, but it was useless as he pinned me beneath him. He used the long, thin length of the towel to tie around my mouth holding the gag in place. I fought to grab at it, clawing at him, and at the towel, but he grabbed my wrists holding them above my head, pinning them to the mattress while he sat on me
holding the rest of my body down.
His strength was far superior to mine. I couldn’t beat him when I was at my best, and I had already been feeling weak. That however, was not going to keep me from fighting. I continued to thrash around, trying to get him off me, my anger at the situation building. I knew my eyes had fully dilated to black because I could see everything sharpening around me. William’s however, remained their deep dark brown with streaks of gold in them. He wasn’t showing the slightest hint of strain as he held me. The only way I was going to get him off me was going to be if I compelled him, and that’s when it dawned on me what he was doing.
I stopped fighting him, and my anger turned to nervousness. I couldn’t defend myself against him.
“Ah, finally figured it out. That’s right, if you can’t speak, you can’t compel me. This time I have you under my control, what I say goes, and you are going to listen to me Juliana.”
William was looking at me with a firmness I had never seen come from him before. There was no playfulness about what was going on. I just nodded ‘yes’ in hopes he’d let up on my wrists, but he didn’t, he continued to hold firm.
“Good.”
We stayed like that for another minute or two in silence as William looked me over, his face finally softening a bit. His voice and hold on me still held all the forcefulness it had before.
“I don’t even know where to start with you. I never would have treated you the way you’ve treated Ana and me tonight.”
I started to fight again wanting to argue.
He picked me up and threw me back on the bed again, “No! You’ve had your say. You are going to listen now. It didn’t have to be this way, and if I could trust you to act like an adult, instead of a spoiled child, I would let you remove it. But you’ve proven yourself over and over tonight you won’t give anyone a chance to explain to you.”
I stopped fighting, and really looked at him this time. I could see in his eyes the pain I had caused him, how much I had really hurt him by leaving earlier. Maybe he was right, and I should at least give him the chance to explain. I nodded that I would listen, and he slowly let up on my wrists. I put my hands on my gag to pull it off, and he stopped me once again.
“I don’t think so. It stays, and so do I,” he said referring to him sitting on top of me, holding me down.
If this was last week, I would have welcomed that thought. I just raised my eyebrow at him, but he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“Jules,” he said exhaling loudly, “I really don’t know where to start . . . I suppose the beginning is always the best. You must understand the only reason we didn’t tell you this earlier is because there are only two other vampires that know the entirety of this. The magnitude of what I am about to reveal to you is the equivalent of treason to humans. Yet, Ana and I both were willing to tell you the truth, all of it. Even before you left us and accused us of betrayal. Jules, I have never betrayed you, and neither has Ana.”
I looked into his eyes and I wanted to believe him. I was so lonely when I lost my family and William had felt so right, but was he too right, was it all orchestrated? I wanted to follow my heart, but wasn’t sure if I should trust it anymore. I didn’t seem to be able to stop myself from putting my hand on William’s cheek while I contemplated this, and ran my thumb along his lips. It was all the prodding he needed to continue.
“Ana and I both work for The Council, but not in the capacity that you think.” He pulled my hand from his face and held it in his lap tracing circles along the back of it as he spoke.
“Yes, they do order death sentences, and I understand your hatred of them, but they are the law-keepers of vampirekind. Believe it or not they are the only thing standing between an all-out vampire-human massacre.”
He now had my full attention; I leaned on my elbows, as much as was possible with William sitting on me, so I could see him better as he spoke.
“There are two distinct factions of vampires, ones that are like Ana and me they live peacefully, blend in with human society, and do our absolute best not to kill any humans. And in the case that it happens we disguise it to keep ourselves hidden. We live according to the law set by vampirekind and upheld by the Council. The other faction is like Nathaniel, they see themselves as the ‘greater beings’ as they put it and their goal is to out all of vampirekind to the human world. They feel vampires should be able to live, feed, and breed without restrictions, and because we are stronger, faster, and live longer than humans that puts us on the top of the food chain. They call themselves the Coven, and currently have a presence in almost every major city in North America, Europe, and Asia, and they are spreading.”
I went to remove my gag again. I had questions for him I wanted answered. He grabbed my hands stopping me, but he did help me take off my jacket and threw it in the corner with his.
“The gag stays. You can ask your questions later. You should have just cooperated from the beginning, Jules.” He at least put a pillow under my head for me making me more comfortable.
“This Coven is also part of an extremely complex, and hard to track human-trafficking ring, they traffic humans around from place to place, for their blood, minimizing the missing persons and death reports in a single area. They eventually turn a large number of them as well. Intel shows they are creating an army, which is what is allowing them to have an increase in numbers spread across the globe. They are attempting to over-throw The Council, and at the same time make a coordinated outing of vampirekind to the world. Humans are not just going to back down, and allow themselves to be preyed upon. They already know our number one weakness whether through book, movie, or myth-- sunlight. An outing would cause an out and out war between humans and vampires which is what the Council is working to prevent.”
He started shifting around on top of me making me appreciate the closeness of our situation. He reached back behind him pulling off his boots. I pointed to my gag, raising my eyebrows questioningly. I really didn’t want this to be a one sided conversation anymore.
“Sorry Jules, I believe you’ll listen now, but I’m still not so sure you won’t compel me to turn around and walk right out of here.”
“The primary objective of the Council is to protect the existence of vampires from humans. The last thing they want is an outing. It’s hard to know where and how The Coven is working. That’s why all the strict laws about revealing ourselves to humans, it could be a coven member testing the waters so to speak.
That’s also where Ana and I come in, along with others. We are part of a clandestine group within the Council called Sub-Rosa, whose primary objective is to seek out factions of The Coven and try to infiltrate within their ranks. There are only two other vampires who even know of our role or existence within the Council, Sebastian Ramírez, the Director of the Council, and Martin Harris, the Director of Sub-Rosa. The identities of the others involved with Sub-Rosa is completely classified information to protect the members and the information obtained.
That’s why all the secrets, all the weapons, the cars. Well, I really just like fast cars so that one is mostly me, but we couldn’t tell you before we dealt with Nathaniel. If he was somehow able to compel you, and found out about us working for the Council it would not only endanger our lives, but thousands of vampire and human lives as well.”
He put his hands on my face looking earnestly into my eyes, “We never told anyone within the Council about Nathaniel’s interest in Christian. We tried to protect him as best we could, but he and the rest of your family still can’t know about you. If your family discovers you are a vampire and the other council members realize they know, all of our lives will be forfeit. They can accuse us of being Coven for not reporting it, and if we do report it they can force you to turn, kill, or enslave them. There is no happy ending in them finding out you are still alive. Do you see why we were protecting you? Why we waited to tell you the whole story?”
I tried to answer him, but still had that stupid gag in my mouth.
Gradually, the tenderness he was starting to show me was fading as his eyes were slowly becoming rimmed in black. I could see him thinking over what I had done, and I went to reach for my gag. I needed to apologize before his temper was too far gone. He grabbed my wrists once again, and slammed them firmly into the mattress behind my head. His face was inches from mine, and I could only see the smallest sliver of the deep brown of his eyes.
“I risked everything for you! Even knowing it could cost me my life, my job, my reputation. I went willingly with you against a 400-year-old master vampire who very well should have killed us all, so I could protect you! As vain as that may seem I thought I could protect you,” he said as he gave a self-deprecating laugh.
He eased a bit then was holding my wrists even harder, pushing them farther above my head straining my arms. I couldn’t believe how badly I had screwed up. Everything he was saying was true. I started to shake my head, to tell him I was sorry, I didn’t mean it. I was sorry I had left and hurt him so badly.
His voice was pitched low, “I told you I would explain everything once we got home, but you fled. Do you have any idea how much you calling me a betrayer had hurt me? I told you before; I would never do anything to hurt you, I would never be something for you to fear.”
He seemed to notice the position I was in for the first time, and his gaze landed on my breasts being pushed upward from the strain of my arms being pinned over my head. He had me trapped underneath and there was no way I was going to get out from under him, I was gagged, and completely at his mercy. He leaned over and started kissing my neck stirring up all kinds of emotions in me. I wanted him to go on, to kiss me harder, I wanted to be able to kiss him back and show him just how sorry I really was.
“We never once told anyone in the council about your son, but they do know about Nathaniel and how he wanted you. It’s hard to hide the death of a 400-year-old vampire that is on the radar of every council member,” he started sliding my shirt up with one hand keeping his other firmly gripping my wrists, “they don’t know why exactly he wanted you. We were vague in answering their questions, Ana alluded it could have been because he was her sire and was doing it to attack her. We aren’t sure what the council will do when they discover your ‘talents’ and don’t want to risk you.”
Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) Page 3