“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 year-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.
William put his hand on my arm, I assumed 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.
“What did you just do?” William had turned on me, yelling.
“I didn’t back down, that’s what I didn’t do. What you were about to do!”
Christian and the rest of his friends came out of the diner and were piling back into his friends car, they had better be heading home. Sunrise was getting closer and we needed to get back ourselves, but I wasn’t leaving until he was safely in bed.
“That’s not what I’m talking about, though I’m not sure how smart that was either. Juliana, do you really not know what you just did?” He was looking at me with a look of utter shock on his face.
“What are you talking about William? I didn’t do anything but piss him off a little more.”
I was feeling really confused about what William was talking about, and we needed to start following Christian back home. William grabbed my shoulders making me give him my full attention.
“Jules, you just compelled a Master Vampire. No one should be able to do that, not even his sire if they were still alive.”
Chapter Fifteen
“What are you talking about? I didn’t compel him?”
“Yes, you did. I could feel you doing it Jules, it shouldn’t be possible, but you did it. The older we are the stronger and more powerful our abilities become. Right now, as a newborn you should only be able to compel humans. You already resist compulsion, which is also unheard of.” William just gave me an uncertain gaze and cut off what he was going to say, “Look, we need to get back home. Christian is safe for now, you’ve seen to that. Let’s head back so we aren’t racing the sun.”
I thought about arguing with him, but we didn’t have a car, and I didn’t want to see the effects of what would happen if we got caught in the early morning dusk. I also suspected William was right. I did compel Nathaniel to take Victoria and leave, I don’t know how I did it, but I did. Maybe I co
uld somehow do it again and make him leave Chicago altogether. Did I want to take the risk that it would last long-term?
“So,” I gave William a playful look, “does this mean I can compel you to do anything I want as well?”
“Babe, you don’t have to compel me. I’ll do whatever you want anyways,” he said with a seductive smile, “and I’ll gladly do anything to you that you’ll let me get away with.” He pulled me to him for a slow, seductive kiss.
“Let’s go home,” I said as soon as he let me break away from him, “and figure how we’re going to kick this guy’s ass once and for all.”
“Oh, I already know how we’re going to do that.” Taking my hand in his we started over to hail a cab home. “I haven’t shown you the weapons room yet.”
I abruptly stopped walking and turned to look at him. “We have a weapons room? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
I couldn’t believe this, between my newfound ability to use compulsion, combined with having the ability to resist it, and now we have weapons! I was finally feeling hopeful.
It had just started to rain as a cab pulled up to the curb, William pulled open the door to let me in, and even though the temperature changes couldn’t affect us, I was grateful he’d made the suggestion to go home when he did.
“I had to be sure you wouldn’t try to kill Ana if I told you about them.”
I thought he was joking, but I looked up to see that he was entirely serious, “You aren’t joking,” I said a little taken aback.
He gave the address to the driver and turned to look at me. “Jules, when I met you, you were screaming about how you hated her. Ana had just turned you against your will. It’s not a far stretch to think that you’d want to harm her, and she is my best friend, I couldn’t let you do that. Until tonight, I was still holding onto the hope that you might try to talk with Nathaniel, and this might end peacefully, but that didn’t last ten seconds. You’re going to need a weapon.”
I pulled back from his side to gauge better the truth of what he was telling me. I could sense the truth of his words, he always told me the truth, but I was still a little bothered that he hadn’t trusted me enough to mention the weapons earlier. We rode the rest of the way in silence, and I contemplated what he had said. I think it had more to do with him not trusting me than anything.
We pulled up to the house and William paid the driver. After he pulled away, we quickly leapt over the wrought-iron fence and ran up the stone steps to the front door. Once we were safely inside, I pulled my wet shirt over my head and dropped it to the floor and began to shimmy out of my jeans, which were stuck tight from the rain. I was lost in my own thoughts of the weapons and how I believed William didn’t trust me enough to tell me about them. I turned to see William frozen in place and dripping water on the floor, staring at me. I realized what I had done, I was standing there in nothing but a black bra and sheer lace panties, my hair was dripping water onto the floor as I stood there.
“Oh—umm, sorry, I wasn’t really thinking. I just wanted to get out of these wet clothes, and I didn’t want to get everything wet, and now I am getting everything wet—and I’m rambling. . .”
William was still just standing there as if he was afraid that if he moved he might spook me or something. His eyes were having no trouble moving and were moving up and down my half-naked body his eye’s getter darker as they went. He still hadn’t said anything to me.
“Okay, well I’m going to go change before the sun comes up and I’m stuck in wet underwear till tomorrow night. See you in ten?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure, ten,” he said his voice sounding rough.
I picked up my wet clothes and held them to my chest as I ran up the stairs to my room. I quickly stripped the rest of the way and towel dried my hair, throwing my wet clothes into the hamper by the bathroom. I had just thrown on a loose T-shirt and a pair of panties when I heard a knock at my door. I instantly became nervous knowing it could only be William because Ana had left the house. I hoped I hadn’t given him the wrong impression downstairs with my little strip-tease.
I padded my way over to the door and held it about halfway open to reveal William standing there in a pair of men’s loose fitting pajama pants and nothing else. He had also towel dried his hair, much more quickly than I did because a few drops of rain were still clinging to his eyelashes.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked still holding on to my door.
I had been planning on putting some shorts on before running downstairs to meet him, and he was making me realize how close to naked the thin T-shirt really was.
“Sunrise is in about 30 minutes or so, and I thought maybe you’d want to sleep together.”
“Really?” I said raising my eyebrows at his bluntness. “I know things got a little hot-n-heavy with us last week, William, but that doesn’t mean you can come walking in here asking to sleep with me anytime you feel like it. It’s not that simple with me.” I was offended at his presumptiveness, even if I inadvertently had teased him earlier.
“Look, I didn’t mean to give you a little strip show earlier, I’m sorry if you got the wrong idea.” I stepped back to close the door but William shot his arm out to hold it open.
“That isn’t what I meant. Do you assume the worst about everyone or is it just me?” William replied sharply.
I didn’t reply or make a move to either let him in or close the door. He closed his eyes and took what would be a calming breath, if we could breathe, and started over.
“Juliana, the sunrise will be here soon. Would you like to spend the day sleeping—by my side—or would you prefer to remain alone?”
“Oh!” My eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, I’m so embarrassed. Please come in.” I opened the door to let him in. “You want to sleep here with me?”
“Why do you look so surprised that I would want to be near you? If you’d rather not, it’s okay.” He said looking a little embarrassed himself.
“No. I mean yes. I think I’d like that. I kinda hate being alone really.” We just stood there looking awkwardly at each other, both half-naked.
Oh boy, good thing we’re both about to pass out.
“So, shall we?” I gestured to the bed and tried to stifle a yawn. Dawn was definitely coming; I couldn’t manage to beat that one. William gave me a cute smile and crawled on the bed.
“No you’re doing it wrong” I told him, pointing to how he was laying. “You’re supposed to lie under the covers.”
“But we can’t get cold.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No, move.” He rolled over so I could pull back all the blankets, then I gestured for him to crawl back in. He moved closer to the middle of the bed this time and when I went to crawl in after him, I paused before I snuggled up to him and put my head on his chest. William wrapped his arm around me as I pulled the covers up over us, and I intertwined my legs with his. “See isn’t this better?”
“Much, better.” He murmured wrapping his fingers through mine and resting them on his chest while he kissed the top of my head. “I think I’ll sleep better than I have in the last century.”
I felt much better, much safer having him here with me. I didn’t feel as alone anymore, but I was still bothered by what he said earlier. Fighting the darkness I could sense coming, I worked up the courage to ask him.
“Will, do you trust me?”
“Juliana, for some reason I am inexplicably drawn to you, and yes, I do trust you. I trust you with my life. If I didn’t, I wouldn't be running head long into this crazy mess after you. Now, get some rest love.”
And I did. I wanted to say more, but I heard the hum of the shutters and not a minute later I was out cold.
I woke to William gently caressing my back with the tips of his fingers. Our legs were still intertwined, my head still on his chest. It was as if I had just fallen asleep.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Hmm?” William replied not interruptin
g his gentle caress.
“This is the most content I have been since I have become a vamp,” I said pressing myself into him as I stretched away the day. “I wonder if we can stay here all night,” musing as I relaxed back into myself.
As soon as I relaxed back, William flipped me over and was pressing his mouth to mine. He pulled back after a minute or two showing me a bright, sexy smile playing on his full lips. His eyes were his usual deep brown with flecks of gold and his hair was messy from sleeping on it wet. He hadn’t looked better to me, probably because he was also shirtless and pressing himself onto me at the moment.
“Well, aren’t you happy in the morning,” I said with a little laugh. He wiggled his hips a little letting me know he was happy in more ways than one.
“You’re beautiful, do you know that? I loved watching you sleep. I liked being in here with you, and I was right, I did rest better than I have in the last century.”
“Just how long did you watch me sleep for, how much earlier do you rise before me? This is really not fair you know.” I really was starting to get annoyed at having to pass out instantly when the sun rose and rising after everyone else.
“Hey, you get super cool compulsion powers, the least I can get to do is rise a little before you.” He said as he started making his way down my body.
“What is ‘a little’ exactly? Are we talking 30 minutes, an hour?” He was sliding my shirt up and kissing my stomach as he revealed more of it. “Wow, that is really distracting, but I want to know . . . can I force myself to rise earlier? Oh! That feels good!”
He had pushed my T-shirt up entirely, taking one of my breasts into his mouth while massaging the other. I wound my hands into his hair and held him firmly where he was. He grazed a fang across my nipple, not breaking the skin, but enough to let me know they were there, sending explosions of pleasure racing throughout my body. I arched into him as his free hand slid down my side and grabbed my behind while he moved on to exploring my other breast.
“Juliana, love, you have no idea how badly I want you.”
Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series) Page 11