“Take a seat,” he told us gesturing to the loveseat as he sat in the chair.
“Chicago, you say. I just lost one of my partners in Chicago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“So am I, he was leading us into the great outing of vampirekind. What was done to him shouldn’t have been possible, he was just over 400-years-old.” he said eyeing me.
“Did he live in Chicago? I haven’t met many other vampires. I’m a newborn,”
“Yes,” he said with a smile, “I can see that.”
“Michael,” Sebastian interrupted, “I have heard a rumor of a vampire in Chicago who is able to resist compulsion, have you heard anything similar?”
“As a matter of fact yes, Nathaniel was in Chicago to check up on his progeny, he felt her turn her own child. When he was there he mentioned he thought he found someone that could do such a thing.”
“Have you ever heard of a newborn vampire being able to compel another vampire, a stronger, older vampire?” Sebastian asked him.
What was he doing?
“Never, but such a thing would be a great weapon. Imagine how easily we could take down the Council, remove the pests without them even knowing it,” Michael replied as he gave me a more considering look.
“It would be a great weapon indeed,” Sebastian said.
“Gloria, what do you know of the Coven? You are a newborn after all, so I don’t imagine you know much.”
“Well, Bastian explained that you think vampires are the ‘greater beings’ when it comes to humans. That you want to out all of vampirekind and rule over humans in the process.”
My answer seemed to anger him a little, though he hid it quickly.
“We don’t ‘think’ we are the greater beings, we are, and we don’t want to just rule over human beings. The purpose is to take our own rightful place, and to stop cowering from humans as though they were the stronger and greater of the two species.”
“But we started as humans, don’t you think that makes us more like one species, just a little different now. Why would you want to destroy what you once were?”
“We most certainly did not start as humans; do you have any idea how vampires first began?” Michael asked me.
“Well, no, I guess not.”
Michael kneeled down and lifted the lid on the chest, he pulled out several old books before finally finding the one he was searching for, and replaced the others. As he sat back in his chair, he dusted off the cover of the book, and looked up at me.
“This isn’t told to many of our kind, but I think Bastian may be on to something.”
Great he did suspect me. What was Sebastian trying to do?
“Have you ever heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls?” Michael asked me opening up the book.
“Sure, they were found buried in some caves right, they had missing books of the Bible along with other writings in them, what about them?”
“The origin of vampires was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” he said.
I just gave him a disbelieving look, “and why hasn’t the world heard of this before?”
“They have, they choose not to listen to it.”
He turned the pages looking for the passage he wanted, then began to read:
“And the Angels fell from Heaven to be with the daughters of Man, their beauty tempted them into falling as they gave up their first right in Heaven; to be with whatever woman they choose on Earth. The women followed after these fallen Angels, for they were strong and magnificent in stature, and their own beauty was far beyond anything the women had ever seen. The women bore many children unto the fallen Angels, and these were to be called Nephilim, the half-breed children of both God and Man.
Their strength and stature wasn’t that of their fathers’, but they were called giants in the land, they were beyond beauty and grace, and their sight carried further then the eye of Man. The Book of Enoch tells of these Nephilim and when man could no longer sustain the Nephilim’s great hunger they turned ravenous and began to devour mankind's flesh, and drank their blood.
God’s response to this was to destroy the Earth in his anger and cleanse it of the evil permeating it, saving only a few of the Son of Man. After the destruction of the earth, a few lonely giants still remained, but also remained hidden. These were the distant cousins of the Nephilim, smaller in stature though still great in their beauty; those we call Rephaim. The Rephaim continued to turn against the edict of God and still consumed the flesh and blood of man discovering it made them faster, stronger, fairer in skin.
Soon came the day when the Rephaim began to forgo all manner of consumption beyond that of the blood of flesh, having a frenzy of both mind and body if forgoing the blood for even a night. One night, while consuming the flesh of a young maiden, an Angel of God came unto the Rephaim and spoke to him, telling him he was to be cursed to walk the Earth for all its days for his wickedness. He would see neither the gates of Heaven nor the fires of Hell and that the rising sun would be his keeper cleansing him of his evil ways should he ever dare try to see it again.”
Michael closed the book; I couldn’t speak because of my shock. Angels, vampires were started because of fallen Angels?
Sebastian picked up where Michael had left off, “Eventually, over time, the name Rephaim was turned and morphed into the vampire we are called today. The Rephaim that walked the Earth of our ancestors fell in love with a human woman, much like the fallen Angels had. The stories say he killed her in a frenzy of blood lust. Deciding that he couldn’t live without her he slit his own throat regardless of the Angel of God telling him he would walk the Earth forever. His blood fell into his love’s mouth, and it is said she rose to walk the earth with him two nights later, drinking on the flesh of man along with him. And so it came to be how the vampire began to procreate and walk the night, to in the end rule the earth.”
“You’re serious? Fallen Angels of God turned into blood sucking creatures of the night? I don’t believe it,” I said.
“Believe it, God tried to destroy the Earth once because of creatures like us, and the only way he will stop us now is to destroy it again.”
Sebastian and I left soon after, Sebastian making up some excuse about wanting to get me into bed. I wasn’t so sure it was a lie. Neither of us said anything as we got into the jag and drove away, Sebastian driving this time. Nothing held much excitement for me after what I had just seen and heard.
Sebastian finally spoke up, “Juliana, do you see why I need you to come work for me? We can’t break through their ranks quickly enough without someone to take them out without their knowing, Michael said it himself.”
I turned on him, so angry I could hardly contain it, “Why did you do that! Why did you tell him I can resist compulsion and make him believe I can compel other vampires? I can’t compel other vampires.” I wasn’t sure if I could trust Sebastian now or not, and I needed him to believe I couldn’t.
“Because I need him to allow you into the ranks in Chicago. If he thinks you are useful he will do just that, and I do think you can compel other vampires. There is no other way to explain what happened to Nathaniel.”
“I am not going to work for you.”
“How can you say that after what you just saw?”
“They will come after my family; they will do that to my family! I won’t risk them.”
“I will give them my full protection and station guards about them 24 hours a day. I like William’s idea of bringing back the human guard and will start recruiting for it immediately among the humans already involved with the Council.”
“Can I reveal myself to my family? Let them know I am alive. What I have become. After all won’t they suspect a 24 hour guard?”
“No, if I allow it I’m putting my own position at risk within the council. If anyone discovered that I allowed it, and someone would since others are always trying to overthrow me, they would kill your family, you and me for breaking the law. Simply to set an example.”
&
nbsp; “The Council doesn’t sound any better than the Coven, both sides seem to kill at whim for whatever purpose serves them the best.”
“You didn’t see anyone killed at the Council’s club tonight, and I am offering your family my full protection. This is your last offer.”
“I’ll work with you, not for you. And I can leave whenever I want. No stake in the heart, or sun light to kill me if I want to quit.”
“You can quit when we take down the Coven, I won’t stop you.”
“Ok, I’ll help you bring down the Coven.”
Chapter Twelve
We didn’t say anything else the rest of the way back to meet up with the others. I was lost in my own thoughts about what I had just agreed to; I was going to work for, no with, the Council. The ones responsible for ruining my life, I must have lost some major brains cells when I was turned to have agreed to something so ludicrous. Sebastian knew what he was doing bringing me to the Coven tonight, there was no other way I would have agreed to it if I didn’t see the way they were torturing humans for myself.
Sebastian had pulled up to the hotel I was staying at with William and Ana. When we walked in the door it was obvious the doorman recognized me instantly when he gave me a look with a raised eyebrow. He was apparently wondering what I was doing with yet another person going into my room. I just a gave him a wave of my fingers and kept walking on by, he could think whatever he wanted, I really didn’t have the patience for it or care at this point.
Sebastian and I still hadn’t said a single word to each other since our agreement, and as we pushed our way into the room it was thick from the tension radiating from inside. William and Ana were both seated on one of the couches next to each other, facing Martin who was sitting in the chair opposite them. I wondered how long they had been sitting like that. All three of them turned to look at us simultaneously; it was a little unnerving really, their synchronicity.
“Well?” Martin asked directing his question toward Sebastian.
“It’s done.”
Sebastian hadn’t gone any further than the entryway and as soon as he was done speaking Martin was up and walking to the door. He brushed past me giving me a nod of farewell as he turned to shut the door.
“I’ll be seeing you later, Juliana.”
I didn’t respond and kept my eyes trained on both William and Ana. They looked like their night hadn’t gone any better than mine. The instant the door was completely shut, Ana came flashing up to me as quickly as she could, taking me off guard as she did. She came to a stop directly in front of me, her hands running along my arms and face almost like she had to touch me to make sure I was really okay.
“What happened? What’s done? Why are you so upset?” she started rattling off.
“Ana leave me alone, nothing happened to me, I’m fine,” I said brushing her off me, and walking further into the living room where William was standing looking at the two of us.
“Then why are you so upset? Your emotions are in such a turmoil right now I can’t get a hold on any one them to gauge how your feeling.”
“Then just cut me off, turn off our connection like you did in the club. If I’m bothering you so much, turn off our connection, like you did earlier when I needed you.”
I turned my back to her and stared out at the windowless room.
“Why aren’t there any windows in here?”
I needed to get out and think about what I had done. I started for the bedroom to find my bag, when I found it I pulled out my jeans and a tank and threw them onto the bed. William and Ana both followed me into the room watching me as I tried not to become a blathering mess. I pulled off the ridiculous dress Ana had me wear and let it fall into a crumpled ball onto the floor. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and changed into the clothes that felt more like me.
“Jules, talk to us. What’s going on?” William was prodding.
“I need to get out, out of this box. Are you two coming or not?”
I looked over at them and they were still wearing the same clothes they had worn to Charlie’s. Ana in her glamorous black dress and William in his suit.
“God yes, I’ve been dying to get out of here,” Ana shocked me a little by saying. She dropped her dress to the floor much like I had just done and reached over for her own clothes that were hung in the closet. William went to change and met us in the living room wearing his own black tee shirt and jeans. In less than five minutes we were all ready to go.
“Where to?” William asked.
“Anywhere, but here.”
We made our way down to the lobby, when the desk clerk saw the three of us he asked if we needed him to call for our car. We all immediately called out ‘no’ and kept on our way out the front door. There was still traffic out even considering it was past two in the morning, we didn’t have long until the sun would be rising; otherwise I would have suggested we leave tonight to go back home to Chicago. We took off and joined the foot traffic on the streets of New York. I found myself still struggling to cope with what I had seen earlier.
“What did you two do while I was out with Sebastian?” Maybe they would be able to calm my inner turmoil. I just wasn’t ready to tell them what had happened yet.
“Martin had a little history lesson for us. He also wanted to remind us with whom our allegiance was supposed to be with. He wasn’t happy we had kept things from him to put it lightly.”
“Oh, great, more problems I’ve caused.”
“No, there aren’t any more problems. He just wants to ensure there won’t be any in the future. He did also have some interesting information for us, Juliana, and we really should talk.”
I stopped walking abruptly and turned to face to William, the crowd of humans walking separated around us like water against a stone. It was like they knew instinctively they were near predators of some sort, and not to get too close.
“What happened?”
“This isn’t exactly the place,” he replied gesturing to the crowd moving around us.
I looked around trying to find somewhere that we would be able to talk and not be over heard or interrupted. I needed to talk to them about some news of my own as well, and I wasn’t going back to the hotel. I hated that room now with its over-bearing reminder of why we were here. I saw a fire escape on the side of a building and went to pull it down.
“What are you doing?” Ana asked.
“Finding a little privacy.”
I jumped up and grasped the bottom of the fire escape ladder and pulled it down. It made a loud commotion as it clanged into place, but once it had stopped moving I started to run up it. I could sense Ana and William trailing behind me. I stopped running when I came to the roof of the building. It was impressive; we had a view over-looking the New York skyline and its entire splendor. The three of us stood on the buildings edge taking in the scene before I turned to look at them. They were both amazingly beautiful. I understood none of us actually were descendants of fallen angels, but looking at Ana and William, I could almost believe they were.
“You go first,” I said to them.
“Well, we basically were reprimanded for not telling Martin more about you, and what really went down with Nathaniel. Then he started asking us very specific questions about you, they know a lot about you Jules, more than I had anticipated. He started asking us your family history and ancestry, we told him that we simply didn’t know. He was finally satisfied we weren’t lying to him somehow.”
“Why did he want to know about my family history, what the hell does that have to do with anything?”
Ana and William shared a concerned glance with each other, “Just tell me!”
“Apparently, both the Coven and Council have been seeking out vampires or humans with a very specific ancestry, and they thought the line had died out. It might explain some of your abilities,” Ana started to explain.
“What kind of ancestry?”
“A link to a very specific tribe of Romani Gypsies, they traveled through Northe
rn Europe and migrated often. Which in itself is very common, but this tribe was traveling because they were following a band of vampires. They were vampire hunters.”
“What does this have to do with me, even if I have Gypsy blood in me?”
“Well, these Gypsy vampire hunters were very good at what they did. They made incredibly inventive weapons, discovering silver was deadly, they were agile fighters, could cover large amounts of ground by day when the vampires couldn’t travel, and were extremely good trackers. They were taking out large numbers of vampires by decapitating them and leaving the separated body parts staked out for the sun to turn to ash. Because they did this instead of just staking them, the vampires felt they were being toyed with, and started playing back.
They set up ambushes for the hunters and would compel them into doing deviant acts in front of their family to humiliate them even further, before killing them slowly. Because they would be in a trance they couldn’t fight back. This began happening more and more often and the numbers of those hunting the vampires began to dwindle.
One night an old Romani woman who could barely stand on her own, but had witnessed night after night, the things the vampires had done, called the remaining hunters to her side. Even though she was physically very weak, she was a very powerful witch among the Gypsy clan, and therefore was highly respected. She had drawn a large circle in the dirt surrounding all of the hunters, and cast a sphere of protective energy around them. The exact spell she cast is still unknown, making it impossible to even attempt to break, however we know it was a very powerful protection spell. She used her athame to focus the power of her energy and the spell into not only the hunters in her sacred circle, but also all the descendants of their line. She poured so much of her strength, love and will into protecting her people that the effort took her life as she broke the circle.
Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) Page 11