Ascension (2 page)

"You look much better."

She reaches into a wardrobe and pulls out a pair of heels. "I think these will fit you well enough."

I try them on. Sure enough they fit. I look her over. She has several sets of bite marks on her neck and left breast.

"Are you all right?" I ask. "You look like you've lost too much blood."

"It's my week," she says, smiling. "My Lord's very experienced. He knows how much to take. He feeds me a bit of his blood each time so I'll be fine."

"Aren't you afraid you'll die one of these times?"

"Oh, no." She shakes her head. "I'm one of his favorites. He takes good care of us."

I sigh, unable to believe that a woman could be happy as part of a harem, for a vampire or mortal.

"Can I ask what you do when it's not your week?"

"Recover," she says brightly. "Eat really well, rest, sleep. Luke isn't really much for television so we tend to listen to music or I can read if I want to."

"You don't work?"

She laughs. "This is my work," she says and points to her wound.

"You know he called you his slave?"

She leads me out of the room. "I know. I don't really care what he calls me. He's one of the oldest vampires and is very powerful. More powerful than even Michel and Julien."

Than even Michel and Julien? I try to absorb this new information as we return to the room.

"Ah, there she is," Luke says. He stands with his arms crossed and looks me up and down. "Much better. Good enough to eat. I tell you, if you grow tired of her, you can always send her here."

"I'll keep it in mind if she becomes too bothersome." Julien glances at me briefly, but his face is unreadable. Luke goes to the door, one arm draped over Elaine's shoulders. "I'm so glad we had the chance to chat," he says to Julien. "And so glad Michel was able to get you out of your little predicament. Give him my regards."

"Luke," Julien says, bowing slightly. He turns to leave and motions to me with a quick wave of his hand. I follow him. When we get to the door, I frown.

"Wait," I say and it hits me. The sun's still out. "How can you go outside during the day?"

Julien opens the door for me.

"Need to know, Eve." He leads me down the stairs to the loading dock. "Everything's different now."

"What do you mean, everything?"

"I mean everything," he says, taking my arm. "I've been able for years, but I haven't been out, so to speak. This is the price Michel had to pay to resurrect me."

This sends a shock through me. Vampires can daywalk? The questions pour out of me.

"How many of you can do this? How is it possible? Why is Michel staying in
Pittsburgh
?"

"Not many can daywalk. A handful remain. I was part of a project your mother was involved in. Now leave it at that," Julien says, all matter of fact, like this isn't about the biggest shock of all.

"Wait," I say and grab his arm. "You can't tell me this is related to my mother's work and not explain."

"Why, yes I can."

I clench my fists and follow him outside. A driver opens the door to a limo and Julien motions for me to get in. I shiver in the cool air, too numb to even consider refusing. I sit inside and lean back, enormous fatigue filling me as if I've just escaped a death sentence – which of course I most likely have.

Julien leans over and clips on my seat belt, and I see him eye the cut on my breast. He takes off his coat and covers me with it, and I'm glad to have something against the chill.

"Why is Michel in
Pittsburgh
," I say again, tears once again blurring my vision. "Can I go to him?"

Julien says nothing while the driver speeds off.

"Julien, please, tell me!"

He turns to me and cups my cheek, frowning. I feel another wave of something sedative flow through me.

"Shh," he says. "Michel's gone and he's not coming back. He had to do this in order to get me back. It was you or him and he would never let Soren have you. You're mine now."

I frown at him, but my ability to argue is fading fast.

"I'm Michel's,'" I say in weak protest.

"Yes, and he gave you to me so get used to it. You said you'd obey him. Well, this is his order."

"I don't believe you. How do I know you didn't arrange all this just so you could take me?"

He turns back to me and now I see his anger in the thin press of his mouth but I also see pain there, emotion, as if he's almost at the breaking point.

"I
died
for him, Eve. He wouldn't let me go. This is his wish. Now, just obey and honor his order."

"What do you mean, you died for him? Do you mean in return for Marguerite?"

He says nothing and I can only imagine what's going on between these two brothers. I lean my head back against the seat. Despite Julien's efforts to calm me, the pain is deep.

Michel's
gone
.

"I have to go to him," I say, my voice breaking. Then, Julien leans close to me and takes my hand, looking in my eyes and he's so intense that my heart does a flip-flop.

"Eve," he says, his voice soft. "We're at war now. You have to get this obedience thing clear. Soren knows about you and he wanted you in exchange for my resurrection but Michel and I made another deal."

"What deal?"

He sighs. "We have to become everything we've hated the most."

"What do you mean?"

He just shakes his head as if he's unable to speak for a moment.

"Soren gave us a choice and we made it. Michel didn't want you to become Soren's property and neither did I. Both of us know what that would mean. He chose to stay with Soren instead."

 
"For how long?"

"A quarter century. Maybe more. It means nothing to a vampire, but to a human it's almost half your life. You have to just accept it."

"How can you accept this?" I say, my voice breaking. "We have to fight Soren. I'll
kill
him."

Julien tries to calm me again, but I succeed in pulling my arm away

"Don't!" I say. "I want to feel my emotions." But he grabs my arm again and squeezes.

"Michel wouldn't want you to cry.
I
don't want you to cry." And then my grief fades once more. I just sit there, like an emotionless zombie, staring at Julien as he wipes my tears away. "We can't do anything to change this. Michel knew it would cost us. Eve, Soren isn't just any old vampire. He's an Ancient. They're not of this world. Your vampire hunter skills? Useless."

"Why? Are they faster?"

"They're metamorphs. They can transform at will. You think you've got them? They dematerialize."

"Is that where the vampires turning into fog myth comes from?"

He nods, his face so grim that I'm afraid.

"They have to have a weakness," I say. I dig my nails into my palms, and the pain is short and sharp and I know Julien won't be able to read me as long as the pain lasts. In those brief moments, I make a commitment to myself. I don't care what Michel forbids or what Julien demands. I'll find a way to kill Soren. I'll find a way to kill him and get Michel back.

Julien grabs my hands and pries my fists open. My nails have dug into my palm in three places, drawing blood.

He clucks his tongue. "You won't be able to keep it up forever, Eve. Pain takes a lot of energy and will eventually exhaust you so I'll find out any plans you have in place." He pulls the wound up to his mouth and tongues it and I fight him, trying to jerk my hand away but of course, he's stronger and he does it anyway.

"Don't you do that!' I say, angry that he's doing what Michel did. "Don't try to be Michel. You aren't him."

"I know that only too well," he says and lifts his head from my hand. He has the characteristic red-rimmed eyes and huge pupils of the hunter feeding, his teeth long, his mouth stained with my blood. He licks his lips and just stares at me, not smiling, his face a little terrifying in its feral expression.

"I didn't want this," he says, his face slowly returning to normal. "Michel didn't want this, but we're brothers first. He saved my life many times and I've saved his. He wouldn't want Soren to have you so that he could go free. He
gave
you to me."

"He can't just give me away," I say, horrified. "I'm not a possession you can exchange."

"Yes, you are," Julien says, his brow furrowed. "Get this straight, Eve. We're predators. You're prey. You're an Adept, which makes you valuable. You will be claimed by someone. Better you were claimed by me than Luke. Being my possession saved your life just now."

Then I reach up and touch the mark on my neck. There are two wounds where teeth have penetrated my skin.

"I'm not yours. I'm Michel's.
 
He came to me in the night. Why didn't I see this when I got ready today?"

He doesn't say anything.

"Michel did come to me in the night." I say again. "If he did, he can come any time."

"Once Soren knew you were alive, one of us had to claim you. Michel wanted to delay claiming you, but he was wrong. It put you more at risk. He didn't come to you, Eve. I did. I had to do it. "

"You
what?
" My blood feels as if it's turned to ice. "Then you raped me because I didn't give you consent."

He shakes his head.

"I didn't really fuck you. I gave you a nice fuck dream of Michel so you'd be happy. I did it for your protection and it's a good thing, too, considering Luke took you. If you'd been unclaimed, you'd be his now and there'd be nothing I could do about it. Even now, he's stronger than I am."

I look away and close my eyes, the reality that any vampire can just hack into my mind and affect my dreams unsettling.

"I feel like some pawn in this game of power you and Michel are playing."

"Not a pawn, Eve. The queen."

I frown. In chess, the queen is the most powerful piece.

"Eve," he says and leans closer. "This isn't about what you want or what any of us want. This is about what has to be. This was the price we had to pay to keep Soren from claiming you. As soon as he knew Michel had you, he wanted you."

"Why is he doing this to you?"

"You read parts of the manuscript. Michel killed Marguerite. Soren's used that over the years to get much out of us but in truth, the debt will never be repaid. No human life, not even a powerful Adept, can equal that of an Ancient's progeny. Not even my life."

"Why?"

"There's a hierarchy among my kind based on how close you are to the first vampires. Nephilim are at the top, because they’re the progeny of fallen angels. Ancients beneath them, then an Ancient's progeny, then the rest of us. Soren enjoys manipulating us, making us do things neither of us would do on our own. He's a monster. But even though he has Michel, and even though he has my compliance, I don't trust him not to come after you as well. I had to claim you. Be thankful it's me and not Luke."

I just sit there, numb, staring into Julien's eyes, Robin's egg blue, fringed with thick black lashes just like Michel's, and I remember my dream and how much I loved it when Michel – when
Julien
bit me.

Unable to argue, drained of all emotion, I close my eyes and turn my head away.

CHAPTER 2

“We love the things we love for what they are.”

Robert Frost

We drive in silence. Before we've driven very far, I become nauseated, the headache that's been threatening for the last hour coming into full bloom, blinding in intensity.

"I'm not feeling well," I say, hardly able to hold my head up.

Julien leans over and turns my head towards him, looking in my eyes. I can barely keep them open.

"Stop the car."

Once the car comes to a stop, he unbuckles his seatbelt and moves closer to me, my face in his hands.

"Jesus
Christ
."

"I'm so tired," I manage to say, but the world is spinning, darkness closing in on me. I feel like I'm going to pass out. "Maybe you should take me to the nearest emergency room."

"No need," Julien says, and I pry my eyelids open and watch him. His eyes become bloodshot, his pupils dilated, and he bites his own wrist, twin punctures over his veins. He holds his wrist up to my mouth.

"What are you doing?" I say, horrified that he's trying to feed me his blood.

"You've got a bad concussion," he says. "My blood will heal you. Drink."

Despite my vertigo and weakness, I refuse, pushing his hand away.

"Just take me to a hospital."

"You're not going anywhere in public," he says and forces his wrist to my mouth.

I press my lips together and try to turn my head.

"Don't," I say. "I won't swallow. I won't become your blood slave."

Then he must release some kind of endorphin in my brain that makes me stop resisting and presses me down on the seat. I'm helpless to refuse. He's lying on top of me, and has my nose pinched, his wrist against my mouth, and finally, I have to take a breath. When I open my mouth, he's able to force his wrist to my lips.

I swallow his blood. At first, I'm sick that I'm actually tasting vampire blood, my mind immediately going to the blood whores in
Franklin Park
and how horrible their lives must be.

"Don't worry, Eve," Julien says, his voice soft. "This little amount won't make you addicted. Although, you may like it so much, you start pestering me for more…" He grins at me while he holds his wrist to my mouth. "If you do, just remember that I expect something in return."

I swallow again, closing my eyes, for it starts to taste unbelievably good, like I need more. I grab hold of his wrist.

"That's just about enough," he says and wrenches his wrist away. I open my eyes and am staring into his and whatever's in vampire blood, it's
good
. Almost too good. It goes right to my groin.

"Oh,
God
," I whisper, closing my eyes, trying to catch my breath from the rush of euphoria and lust.

"Yes, it's good, isn't it?" He leans his face down to mine and kisses my mouth, licking my lips as if to taste his own blood. "I could take you right now," he whispers in my ear, "and you wouldn't fight me, would you?"

He nestles between my thighs, and I just lie there, my eyes closed, riding the wave of bliss, and he's right. He licks my breast, licks the cut over the nipple, and I arch my back against him it feels so good. He could fuck me right now and I'd let him, and I know I'd love it because my body is so ready, but it's not me. It's not because of how I feel for him. It's because of the blood and the endorphins. If I weren't under its influence, I wouldn't. I'd pull away, I'd fight him and it would be rape.

"I'm not a rapist," Julien says, reading my mind. Instead of trying, he merely exhales heavily, rubbing his nose under my ear, kissing his bite mark. "I'll wait, but one day, Eve, when you realize Michel's not coming back, you
'll
come to me and ask for it. If you wait too long, I'll make you beg for it on your knees. And the thing is, you'll love begging for it."

"I'll never beg," I say, my eyes still closed, and I hate myself, because the thought of begging for it arouses me in some depraved way. Tears bite at the corners of my eyes, because of what he's said about Michel not coming back.

"You will."

I turn away. I can't look at him. I'm afraid what he says might be true.

Finally, he sits up and pulls me up as well, fastening my seat belt again and I open my eyes and watch him, and he's so beautiful despite the frown. He runs his fingers through his hair and takes in a deep breath, rolling his neck from side to side as if to ease tension.

"Let's go," he says to the driver and then he turns back to me. "Eve, you should have stayed in the café when
you came out of the washroom and
Marco wasn't there. You should have gone straight to the car and let the driver know. It was foolish of you to go to the other store on your own. Didn't you stop to wonder where Marco was? Didn't you think of the danger you're in? Michel told you that you needed secure custody."

"I know." I close my eyes, preferring his stern words of reproach to the self-assured tone he used when he was telling me I'd beg him for sex. "This is just all so unreal to me."

"It's real. Don't forget. If you weren't recovering from a head injury, I'd show you just how real this is – I'd spank your little ass."

"You better not try," I say, turning back to him. "Michel showed me how to stake a vampire. I killed him temporarily. Don't think I won't kill you to stop you from hurting me."

"Things are different, Eve," he says and shakes his head. "Don't even think you could beat me now."

"What do you mean?" I frown, but he ignores me and turns to the window, stroking the several-days worth of stubble on his jaw. "Tell me!"

"I'm different. That's all you need to know so get any ideas of staking me out of your pretty little vengeance-filled head."

Finally, I glance out the window at the neighborhood.

"Where are you taking me? Aren't we going back to Michel's place?"

"Can't. Security was compromised. Someone from within betrayed Michel. We're putting in a new security system, renovating the grounds. We're going to my place." He says nothing more and I'm too in shock to argue and just watch out the window, wondering where we're going. We drive towards the docks, to an old warehouse area. The car enters a long alley between red-brick warehouses and stops at a loading dock. Julien helps me out of the limo and takes my hand in his, leading me up the stairs. The warehouse is empty on the main floor. We walk to an old freight elevator and wait for it, taking it to the fifth floor.

The interior is open space with a series of rooms to one side and looks as if construction is still underway. Plastic tarps separate areas that aren't finished from the rest. The whole floor has shiny dark hardwoods and exposed brick and ductwork. Huge multi-paned windows reach to the ceiling in every room, revealing a panoramic view of the city to the north and east.

In one corner of the main room beside
the
kitchen sits a grand piano with sheet music spread out on the stand. It looks like a brand new Steinway. Beside it is a music stand and a violin case. In the west, walled off by wooden dividers, is an office-like space with desks, computers and a wall of security monitors showing different views of the warehouse exterior.

Julien opens a door and enters a bedroom. Inside is a huge four-poster canopy bed with a lush white silk cover and gauzy white drapes. The windows look out over the river.

"We sleep here." He points to a door. "There's a washroom if you need it. I'll have a man go to your place and get some clothes for you." He turns to go. "Now I have work to do."

"You mean
I
sleep here, don't you?"

"I mean
we
, Eve. You're mine. Get used to it."

"You really think I'm just going to hop into bed with you?" I say, frustration filling me. "Just because you look like him doesn't mean I'll want you."

He grabs my hand and pulls me close against his body.

"Michel said you lie to yourself. You've already thought of being with me." His gaze moves over my face and I feel him at the edges of my mind, trying to get in. "This is war, Eve. Now's the time to just submit."

He closes the door, leaving me alone in the huge room. I sit on the bed and just cry.

I go to sleep, lying on my side on the bed, and its only much later that I wake. The sun's down and Julien’s under the covers with me, spooned against my body. I gasp when I remember who it is beside me and my body tenses.

Despite my grief, my body betrays me, warming to him immediately and I remember how much lust I felt for him after drinking his blood. I try to block those thoughts out of my head, for I don't want him to read them. I dig my nails into my palms once more.

"I already know," he whispers, and squeezes me. I want to scream at him because I hate how he knows. I hate him and his brother and all vampires. They've ruined my life.

"You were crying in your sleep," he says, his voice soft in my ear. "Now, shh," he says and strokes my hair. "Go to sleep. Don't worry. I said I'm not a rapist and I meant it. I'll wait until you're ready. Your body already is, but your mind isn't. I'll wait until you offer yourself to me. Don't make me wait too long, or I'll make you do it on your hands and knees."

"Don't hold your breath," I say. "I'll never go on my hands and knees to anyone." But then I think,
famous last words, Eve
.

Despite my arousal, I can't keep my eyes open and my body is helpless to fight him. I drift in a drugged-like warmth, my eyelids heavy.

The next time I wake up
,
I'm alone in the bed and I feel like I have a hangover. I get up, and in the bathroom is a box of my clothes from Michel's house, including a makeup bag with my personal things. I take off the cocktail dress and pull on a clean pair of jeans and a sweater, but I have no bra since I only brought the one I was wearing yesterday. I wash my face and put on a touch of makeup and check out the bite mark on my neck. How come I didn't wake up when he bit me? Did he drug me? How come I didn't see the bite mark in the morning when I looked in the mirror?

Then I sit on the bed with my iPhone and check my mail to see if I have any messages but there's nothing – just the usual spam and news headlines in the feed I subscribe to. In a desperate bid, I send Michel an email, but it bounces back with an error message that says the email is no longer valid. Then, I post a message to the message board where I first contacted Michel.

"Michel, please come back to me! I can't do this!"
is all it says.

The door opens and Julien comes in, and he seems different, as if he's changed, as if being with Soren has done something to him. He seems harder, no longer playful. He's wearing Army fatigues and a t-shirt that reads Navy SEAL and
I Survived Hell Week.

"I heard you were up," he says. "Come out and have something to eat."

I don't look him in the eye and follow him out into the main living area, padding behind him in my bare feet.

When we enter the kitchen, wonderful aromas reach my nose. I see an older man fixing something on the stove. He's the one I saw with Michel before.

"Vasily will fix you a plate," Julien says and points to the stool by the island that separates the kitchen from the rest of the living area.

" Hello little Ballerina Girl." Vasily smiles at me. "We finally meet."

"Ballerina Girl?"

"Boss says you were dancer as girl?"

I nod, and check over my shoulder to where Julien is standing, looking out the window.

"I've cooked some good Russian food," Vasily says. "Will make you feel better, give you some meat on bones, you are so tiny like little bird." His voice is deep and he has a very thick Russian accent. He places a plate of food in front of me. It looks like a roast of some kind with gravy, cabbage, and other vegetables.

"Thank you, but I'm a vegetarian."

He frowns. "Eat," he says. "You must regain strength. At least have some bread and gravy."

I sit and take a bite of the vegetables but everything's covered in a meat gravy. Surprisingly, I eat it anyway. It's so good, and I eat happily, not realizing until now how hungry I am and how much the taste of the meat appeals to me. I gaze out the window at the city skyline. To our left is the piano.

"That's a beautiful Steinway," I say, awed at its beauty. "It looks new."

"Brand new," Julien says. He comes to stand in the kitchen beside me, touching my cheek with the backs of his fingers once again. "Delivered yesterday. I got it for you. You should play."

I pull away from his touch, not wanting him to read me. Then he goes to the counter and pours himself a glass of something from a carafe, the liquid thick and crimson.
 
It must be blood. He tips the glass up and drinks it down without stopping. When he turns to me, his eyes are red-rimmed, his pupils huge.