Ascension (13 page)

Julien is a killer and enjoys each one, relishing in his victim's blood. But he isn't
the
killer. He isn't the River Man.

When I try to pull away to proclaim his innocence of the charges against him, to attest that his kills are all just, he twists his hand and is able to grasp mine before the guard can react. In those few seconds before the guard depresses the switch to trigger the flow of liquid silver, Julien pleads with me in his mind.

Find me guilty.

I hear it in my mind, just a whisper, but his voice is pleading.

I fight against such an idea. He
is
a killer, a contract killer working for the Council, an infiltrator as he said to me in
Virginia
. His kills are all sanctioned. He wants me to find him guilty but I don’t know why.

The guard steps forward and I pull myself momentarily out of contact with Julien's mind.

"Don't!" I shout as he starts to depress the lever to releases the flow of the colloidal silver. "I'm fine." The guard steps back and glances at Ed, who nods.

Then Julien's other memories overwhelm me, moments and times beyond his kills, carnal memories of his lust for the women he's loved, their bodies entwined. I try to catch my breath, sorting through the darkness of his mind as he chases down his targets and takes them out, one by one and the erotic scenes I happen on. When he feeds, I feel his bloodlust as if it's my own, the beating of the victim's heart so loud in his head, the warmth of the victim's body against his coldness, the coppery taste of blood acting like an aphrodisiac, making his flesh rigid. Soon, sex and death blended into one mélange until I can't separate them and my mind rebels.

Julien, a warrior who sees the horror of the coming war between vampires and humans and refuses to accept it, who changed allegiance and now kills to ensure the continued existence of the Council. Who takes life with pleasure, without fear or care, feeding on his victims, feasting on them. Every kill justified and in service of the greater good.

He wants me to trust him. To lie. I haven't found a reason for it; he presents no evidence to explain it when our minds touch, and so I have to decide and fast.

I breathe in a ragged breath.

"He's guilty."

Finally, the guard pries Julien's fingers away from mine and I step back, tripping into Ed who rushes in to help me. I almost collapse as my own senses rush back to fill the gap when Julien and I part minds. Overwhelmed, I bend over, head between my knees, on the verge of passing out. Ed sits me down and then strikes Julien across the face with so much force that I can hear bone breaking.

"Son of a fucking bitch," he shouts and bends over at the waist, rubbing his knuckles, which are stained with blood. "I forgot how fucking indestructible you bloodsuckers are."

Julien turns his face back, and I notice there's blood on his lips. "Is that your blood or mine?" He licks the corners of his mouth. "Oh, it's yours," he says and smiles. "Thanks for the snack."

Ed makes a fist again. "I'm going to enjoy pulling the plug on you, you traitorous sonofabitch. You had us all sucked in. What a fucking expert liar you are."

"My pleasure, but really," Julien says and the menace in his voice sends a chill down my spine, "you're being too kind."

I pick up my notebook and pen from where they fell, my hands still shaking as I try to grasp what I've just done. I've broken my oath of office within moments of taking it. I've lied about Julien's innocence – at his request, but it's still a lie. I search his face for something, but he won't look at me. His eyes are fixed on Ed.

"The truth is," Julien says, his voice mocking. "You were too accepting of what I said. You wanted to crack the case so badly you ignored those little red flags, that nagging doubt you felt at me being so willing to help in Michel's place."

"Let that be a lesson to you," Ed says and points to me. "It takes a while to become a battle-hardened skeptic. Just remember to keep your guard up. Guys like him," he says and gestures towards Julien, "are adept at assessing a mortal's weaknesses and then exploiting them to get what they want. Pure psychopaths."

I nod, pretending to agree with him, but I know that Julien isn't what Ed imagines. At least, I hope that's the case.

Ed stands beside me

"You always were a bit thick," Julien says and smiles. "Good enough for a grunt and for police work but you're obviously way above your head. No match for an eight-hundred year old vampire."

At that, Ed grabs the switch from the guard's hand and depresses the button. Julien laughs when he sees what Ed's planning, but soon his face contorts into a grimace and his body arches backwards as if he's in terrible pain.

"Is that necessary?" I say, the pain on Julien’s face making me cringe.

"Don't worry," Ed said, his voice dripping with disgust. "There's not enough silver in it to destroy him. Let's go," Ed said, taking my arm, leading me out of the room. "You don't need to watch this."

I can't help but feel sick at this game he's playing with Ed. He has to look guilty and is inciting Ed’s wrath on purpose.

"What'll happen to him?"

"I'll let my guys practice aggressive interrogation techniques on him, you know, just for the experience. Then, when he recovers, you'll have to question him again. Detail at least one kill so we can put him away. You need to document one kill, how he did it, where he did it, and lead us to some physical evidence we can use. It shouldn't take more than a few moments direct contact."

 
We go upstairs to the SCU offices and I sit on the chair across from Ed's desk, glad for the rest. Strapped into the old electric chair, the silver IV attached to his arm, he looks so vulnerable. I wonder what he was like before he had been turned. A warrior – that much I know from the manuscript, but before even that, he was a priest like Michel. Loyal to his father who died fighting a war against the Church, his mortality taken from him.

Ed glances at the clock. "It's almost dawn. We'll keep him busy for a few hours, soften him up for you later. Why don't you go home and get some shuteye? You better go back to your own place. I don't want you staying at Julien's warehouse any longer. I'll put 24/7 surveillance on you starting now. Obviously, Julien wasn't on our side so I don't trust any of his men. Report back here at dusk."

A driver takes me to my apartment. He points out the unmarked car stationed outside my building to check on everyone coming and going. I go upstairs and after I feed the cats and check my email, I creep under the covers and sleep like the dead.

cHAPTER 12

“Love does not dominate: it cultivates.”

Goethe

I spend the day in a broken sleep
, waking up and turning over and over in my bed, getting up during the middle of the day to check outside where I see an unmarked sedan still on the street, the man inside smoking, a newspaper opened in his hand.

I have few of my things at my apartment – they're all at Julien's warehouse and so I have to find something from my really old clothes.

My world is now completely upside-down. Michel's gone for good. Julien is posing as a traitor and I'm no longer in protective custody. I have a stake in my coat pocket and that's about the only protection I have that I feel I can count on. I wonder if it would kill Soren, if he were to come after me.

Ed seems impatient to get going when I arrive back at the SCU after dusk.

"We kept him up all day, so he'll be less able to influence you when you read him."

We go down to the basement and I catch sight of Julien sitting in the chair through the two-way mirror. My heart does a little flip-flop and my palms are already starting to sweat.

"Go ahead," Ed says, a hand at my back. "Might as well get it over with. Sooner you write him up, the sooner I can tank the monster."

I take the clipboard on which is attached the declaration form I'm to fill out, detailing the 'confession' if there is any and whatever I witness when reading him.

Julien raises his eyebrows when I enter the room. He tilts his head to the side, a tiny bit of a grin on his face. Blood spatters his cheek and he looks even more undead than before but I see no bruising or damage to him. Of course, he heals so quickly, any wounds would be gone in a matter of minutes.

"Hello, Eve. How'd you sleep last night? I hear you were back in your apartment. I'm sure you have good surveillance on you, so don't worry your little head about it." He nods briefly as if reassuring me. Does he have his own security on me and this is what he's telling me?

I smile back, trying to play whatever game he wants me to play, and take my seat, then focus on my work, flipping open the witness report file, reviewing the directions.

"Where did we leave off? You were bragging about your superiority, if I recall correctly."

Julien says nothing, just nods slightly as if confirming that I'm right to play along. Then he smacks his lips suggestively.

"I'm going to enjoy tasting you again," he says.

Ed steps into the room and slaps Julien across the face.

"The only thing you're gonna taste, asshole, is tank gel, you fucking animal. I'm gonna enjoy shoving the tube down your throat and filling you full of it."

"You see what kind of human he is?" Julien says and lifts his chin towards Ed. "He wants to kill us all, every last one of us. Doesn't that sound a bit -- genocidal?"

After a moment of silence passes he smiles.

"I was wondering why they sent you in to interview me instead of putting me in stasis and waiting until a more experienced witness is available. You can't seriously think they sent you in because you're so skilled."

He's playing a game, pretending to be a real asshole. I have to play along, and do my best, but it's hard because half the time, I'm really not certain it is a game.

"I'm not skilled," I say. "Not yet. But I am fascinated about why you choose to break the treaty that protects your kind from vigilante justice."

"The treaty keeps us in servitude," he says. "We aren't free to be true to our nature."

"Your nature as serial killers."

"As hunters," he says. "Keeping the prey population in check."

"Immoral killers who kill with no concern."

"Oh, I don't kill with a lack of concern," he says and shakes his head, then gestures with his chin as if to draw me nearer. I lean forward. "Exactly the opposite," he says, his voice soft. "I kill with deep concern. I cherish every single kill. When I'm sucking the life out of my victim?" He sighs audibly and leans back. "I know that God is good."

"Get on with it. I know you hate having to do it," Ed says to me from the observation room. "Please read this monster and let me do my job and put him away."

 
Julien shakes his head. He glowers at Ed and then turns back to me.

"These idiots think that if they can understand vampires they'll be able to kill us all off. That's what you really want, isn't it Ed?" he says and turns to the two-way mirror. "You want to control us. You want power over us. Mortals are weak, and vampires strong, and you're afraid. You can't and you won't destroy us because God himself ordained that we're to be punished forever." He leans forward and whispers to me. "God himself condemned us all and any that we love."

He says it with all earnestness and I almost believe him. He tilts his head to the side and examines me.

"He condemned you, didn't he, pretty little Eve. Pure little Eve, full of promise, child prodigy on the piano, little ballerina, weren't you, before all this caught up with you? Made your father weep when you played so well when you were only five. Father had big plans for you to become a modern-day Mozart, but fate intervened, isn't that right? Fate in the form of a vampire who killed your mother and sent your father into an institution."

"I said shut the fuck up," Ed said and punches Julien once more.

I shake my head and look away from them, turning pages in my file with a shaking hand, wondering at what a great actor he is or whether he's serious about all the God talk.

"I imagine the Accord was meant to control you because you're a danger to humans."

He glowers at me. "You can't really control us. We're a force of God's will. Vampires were created to prey on you in punishment for your transgressions against God."

"Let's get this over with."

"Look," he says and leans forward. "Eve. I can see you're clearly over your head. It's not your fault. You should have been spared this. I blame men like Ed who want to exploit you. They think they've outsmarted God himself, figuring out some way to destroy us with their genetic technology. But I'll let you in on a little secret," he says and nods for me to move closer. I do without thinking. "It's you they'll destroy." He leans back, as if satisfied. "Now go ahead and read me. Get this over with." He smiles.

I check the box on the form that reads 'Subject Fails to Disclose Details Voluntarily' and put the clipboard down on the table. I take in a deep breath and lay my hand on the exposed skin on the inside of his wrist. His skin is soft there, velvety, and cool.

Then, that familiar sensation of falling into a chasm overtakes me and I'm inside his mind. I see him with the dead priest, meeting him in a dark wooded area somewhere outside the city, the monastery, the priest kneeling down before him. Then the pleasure when he sinks his teeth into the man's neck, drinking deeply of his blood, the sensation of the man's heart as it speeds up while the blood drains out of his body.
 

I'm drawn into his bloodlust briefly, the sensations of drinking the blood now familiar. I watch the next part – the part where he carries the body to the waterfront. Then, I pull out of the vision, using every bit of energy I can.

"I got it all," I say, waiting for the vertigo to pass.

Ed comes to my side and puts his arm around my shoulder in an avuncular fashion. "Just record what you saw. Give us details that we can use.
 
Did you get the location of the kill site?"

I nod. "The monastery where he used to live."

Ed snaps his fingers and points to someone in the observation room. "Get a team and check it out."

"Poor sweet Eve," Julien says as the guard starts to unshackle his chains, preparing to move him. "Trying so hard to please your parents, playing the piano like an angel to get their approval.
 
Your father's approval. Your mother really did love you." He shakes his head. "Isn't that the story of all our lives?
 
Doing whatever it takes to get the father's approval when all he really cares about is his own aggrandizement?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say in anger. "My father loved me."

"That's what I thought as well. Common mistake."

He smiles and stretches in an exaggerated fashion in spite of his restraints. "Now enough about our bastard fathers. There are plans afoot. I have to keep on top of things. Why don't you just ask me something more interesting, like – can I predict the future? Can I tell you what's going to happen next?"

"What do you mean? After I read you or after the Council sentences you?"

"Not that long. . . " He cranes his head to see the clock. "Not nearly that long."

I frown. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." He smiles.

Then a huge explosion shakes the building and the lights flicker out so that we sit in complete darkness. I hear a scuffle, and when my eyes adjust, I see that Julien has taken down both guards who were in to move him.

"What happened?" I say, breathless.

"Don't worry," he says, his voice steely. "You're safe."

After about ten seconds, the emergency generator starts and the lights switch on.

Julien leans forward. His face is dark, his expression stern. "Listen to me," he says. "Just don't fight."

"What are you doing?"

He closes his eyes tightly.

It all happens too fast for me to take in. A bright flash of light blinds me and a loud bang dulls my hearing. Someone pulls a fabric hood over my face before my vision returns and wrenches my arms behind my back, binding them with some hard plastic ties.

I blink as I'm pulled along, and soon, the sparkles that impeded my sight are replaced by the darkness of the hood.

"Where are we going?"

"Shush," he says, his face next to mine, his voice a little lighter. He pulls me along, my heels falling off so that I'm barefoot.

"Help!" I call out, barely able to make any noise from the fear constricting my throat. Am I supposed to go along with this – pretend I’m a hostage? Or is this real?

He shakes me, squeezing my arms tighter.

"Quiet!" His voice is deep now, angered and he’s either really mad or he’s acting. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that a camera is catching everything.

My breath catches in my lungs when he picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, and then carries me up a flight of stairs. I feel cool air against the skin of my legs, and am deposited somewhere, perhaps the back of a vehicle, the floor hard against my ribs. Doors slam shut. An engine roars into life, tires screech. Rapid movement, bumps in the road, muted conversation from the front of the vehicle.

I lie on my side, a hood covering my head, my arms bound behind me.

I wonder what the hell Julien has got me into.

We drive around for a long time – I'm not able to gauge how long. Finally, the van stops, the engine idling. A door slams and I wait for something else to happen. After another much shorter wait, the door opens and I hear a familiar voice. Julien. He and the other man speak, their conversation muted.

"The back entry's open. It's three flights up. I'll carry her."

Next, I'm lifted out of the vehicle and thrown back over his shoulder. Up stairs, I don't know how many, for my heart is beating far too fast. I hear a door close and then am plopped onto a bed.

Some more discussion takes place between Julien and someone else and then another silence after a door shuts. I hear a meow and my heart jumps. The mattress depresses and the hood is removed from my head.

My apartment! I glance past Julien's face through the open door to the living room, to my small upright grand piano, to the cat apartment by the bay window.

"Why are we here? Won't they look here first?"

"Why would they look here? Who'd be dumb enough to take a hostage to her own apartment?" He leaves me on the bed. "I always say, hide in plain sight. People are too stupid to look there. Besides, I wanted to remind them you're not safe," he says and turns to face me. "Ed thinks he can protect you from me and all the other vampires out there. I'm trying to prove he can't so he'll put you in protective custody."

“Can you at least take these off?”

“No can do. You have to look like you’ve been abducted. I have to sever ties to you so you can keep working for the SCU. I need you inside if I’m no longer there.”

"Why did you have to kill that priest?” I say.

"He's very dangerous to the peace," Julien says, pausing to pick up a book from my bookshelf on Freud, then moving to my closet. "He chose the wrong side. That can't be allowed – for all our sakes."
 
He takes out one of my blouses and holds it up to his nose, breathing in deeply.

"Why did he have to die? Wasn't there another way? Couldn't you talk to him, imprison him?"