Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series) (11 page)

“
H
ello Mr. Retta, Ms. Retta
,
it’s a pleasure to meet you both. I apologize for having kept you waiting
.
I
f William and I had known we were expecting guests
,
we certainly would have been home much sooner.”

“Oh, Mrs. Lucio not to worry at all
.
Y
our delightful Sire here has been a most gracious host.”

I gave him a look saying I seriously doubted that one, which just brought on a bark of laughter from him. “Have you been injured
?
I
t looks like you have sutures there
. T
hat is rather unconventional for a vampire, but I have heard of stranger things.”

“No, no injuries. William just has a morbid sense of humor and likes to experiment on me
;
you know sort of like putting your friends hand in a bowl of water when you were a kid.” There was
no way in hell
I was telling this guy anything about what we were doing.

“Ha, ha, ha! Oh, Mrs. Lucio
,
you are delightful for sure
.
I can see why Ana chose you when no others turned her eye for over a hundred years.”

I just gave him a tight smile in return and waited for him to say more about why they were so interested
in me. When he said no more and instead seemed content to sit and look me over, I
decided to speak up.

“Mr. Retta
,
I’m afraid I’m new to the vampire scene, so please forgive my ignorance
;
but do you live in Chicago as well?”
In other words when will you be leaving?
I asked as I put on my best fake smile for him.

“Oh, no we are simply passing through. Victoria and I tend to leave a bit of a trail at times
,
and for that reason
,
we don’t settle in one place for long. If we find somewhere we truly enjoy
,
we will try to be a bit more discreet with our killings in order to lengthen our stay, however,” he told me with a predatory glint in his eye.

God, they sounded worse than Ana and William had told me
.
T
hey don’t
just kill their victims
,
they enjoy it and do it without caring how many bodies they leave in their wake. There was a stiff pause in which I knew I was being weighed
and measured on how I would react to being told point blank that these two were sociopath vampires.

“And what exactly do the authorities of the places you leave your trail of bodies think about what’s going on? How do you hide what you’re doing?”

“Hide it, why on earth would we do that? We are the greater creatures. Humans should be afraid of us, cowering from us; I will not hide what I am from them.”

“Yet you said yourself you run from them, you have no home because you leave a trail of bodies behind you. You say it is because you are the greater being
.
I
s it perhaps because you lack self-control?”

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed into angry slits that were gone in a flash
.
I could feel Ana tensing up beside me. Amusement covered the fury that was simmering beneath his façade.

“Mrs. Lucio, I can guarantee you I am lacking in nothing, but I appreciate your fire
;
I can see where young Christian gets it from. I think I understand why my Victoria wants him so badly now.”

The threat wasn’t
implied, it was thrown wide out into the open. The whole world froze in that instant, no one existed and nothing else mattered except the monster posing as a man before me. I now knew who and what he was, he was the Goliath that must be slayed
to ensure my family’s safety, but I had a feeling it was going to take more than a sling shot to bring this bastard down. I started to step toward him without being aware of it until Ana’s arm flashed out and grabbed my arm stopping me.

“What do you want Mr. Retta, why the interest in me and my family?”

It took all the self-control I had accused him of lacking to keep from slipping into my vampire guise. I knew it would be considered
an outward threat
,
and I was still trying to avoid that at the moment.

“Cut straight to the point
,
don’t you dear?”

“Yes, well
I’ve always been a firm believer in ripping Band-Aids off fast and cutting through the bullshit – not sitting around acting like I’m friends with someone who is threatening my son. Now again, I ask you respectfully, what is your interest in him?”

“I have no interest in him at all, I was merely commenting on your likeness. I came by to meet a dear old friend’s new child, nothing more. I’m sorry if you’re threatened by me.” He said with a smile, which suggested anything but.

What’s
that saying . . . in for a penny, in for a pound?

“Mr. Retta, my bullshit detector is very finely tuned, and I’ve got to say it’s reading off the charts right now.”

“You
r
what? Did you just
--” before he even finished his sentence he was up and out of the chair and had me thrown against the far wall, he would have thrown me through it I’m
sure, but I caught myself with my hands at the last moment and just ended up
pressed against it.

Ana went to move by my side, but Victoria flashed between us blocking her way. As I went to push myself off the wall, Nathaniel was at my back pressing the bulk of his significant belly into my back. He opened his mouth wide and was baring his fangs
;
he looked as if he was
about
to pierce my neck, but I gave him a quick elbow to the mouth instead.

The jerking motion pulled at the sti
t
ches in my chest
,
and I silently cursed William again. Though, if I didn’t live it wouldn’t really matter. The shock of the blow caught him off guard and gave me a chance to take advantage of his distraction. I ducked under his arm and spun around so my back was no longer to him or the wall. I tensed my muscles to be ready to spring at any moment.

“Mr. Retta
,
is that any way to treat your host? Especially
considering how she has been so gracious to you. Besides
,
I hear if you drink too much vampire blood you go crazy, and as a licensed doctor
,
I think I’m qualified to say you are certifiable enough already.” Was I antagonizing him? Hell
yes, I was.

“Juliana Lucio
,
I thought I might try to woo you to my side, I thought perhaps you might be smarter than the scab traitors you have been forced to live with, after all, you didn’t choose your Sire. I was sure you were smart enough to see that we are the better creature and can do what we please to whom. I see I was wrong, you are just as blinded as they are. I think instead of taking you under my wing I’ll just take you instead. I’ll take you so you can watch my little Victoria drain your Christian dry, and at the last moment I’ll decide whether to turn him or not
.
I
t was your refusal to let go of him in the first place that led her to his beauty. Know this before I take you that his death in any form I grant it will be all your doing – if not for you leading us straight to him, Victoria never would have found him.”

“Tell me Nate, have you spent all of your existence running from the humans you deem beneath you
,
and trailing after teenagers? Is that how you stay feeling young? It must be hell to be trapped in the body of a fat, old man.”

He lunged for me
like I knew
he would, I was waiting for it and dodged him at the last second. As I was spinning away from him
,
his hand caught my hair and yanked me back toward him.

Ana and Victoria were still facing off with each other but not engaging one another. They were crouched
low, fangs bared and arms up ready to attack, they were shifting around, but neither was making a move on
the other. I couldn’t see William, but then my focus was on the vampire trying to rip my head off my shoulders by way of my hair. As Nathaniel pulled me backward
,
I fell to the carpet
;
he spun around and was now in a low crouch over me, looking me fiercely in the eyes. I could now see William out of my periphery poised and ready to attack.

That would not accomplish what I needed desperately to get done. I was hoping I was right, and really, really hoping I didn’t
get myself or anyone I loved killed in the process. I gave William a shake of the head telling him ‘No’. Nathaniel, arrogant bastard that he was, probably thought I was begging him not to do anything to me.

“Juliana Lucio, look at me.” I did, but mostly out of curiosity.

“You will stop fighting me, right now.”

I let go of him, I did it on my own, but there was a slight tingle in the back of my mind that was telling me this was a good idea. He was trying to use compulsion on me. I thought about putting my hands around his neck, and when I realized I still could if I wanted to, it was incredibly hard not to smile. 

“You will come to me and revel in the blood or I will give your son to Victoria. It’s that simple. I would give you the world for your beauty, but for the chance to see you turn into the monster you are meant to be, for that I would give anything.”

“Tell me Mr. Retta, what good would the world do me if I lose my soul trying to take it?”

“Oh, you are a delight. One week Mrs. Lucio, one week to come to me or I will be taking your son, while making you watch. Let’s go Victoria.” He abruptly let me go and turned to leave the house
.
Victoria followed him just as quickly without ever having said a word.

As soon as the door shut, both William and
Ana turned on me.

“What part of ‘behave’ do you not understand?” Ana yelled at me from across the room.

“I told you he would turn on you! I told you he would take your family in a blink! Were you trying to antagonize him or does it come naturally!” Apparently it was William's turn to yell.

“Yes.” I couldn’t
wipe the smile off my face.

“Yes? Have you lost your damn mind?” William looked furious and scared, “He could have killed you
or he could have compelled you to walk right out the door with him. Don’t you get it?”

He was pacing the living room now
.
I was still sitting on the floor and Ana was looking like she was
meditating.
Huh?

“Why are you so giddy right now, did you not hear what he said? He i
s going to kill you or your son.
” Ana was talking to me between deep breaths.

I jumped up, getting a little angry that they thought me so inept, so I did end up on my ass, so what!

“Yes, I do get it. Better than both of you apparently. He was going to go after Christian no matter what, he just wanted to come here and flaunt it before me to see what kind of reaction he could get out of me first. He is an f’ing psychopath; no amount of groveling at his feet is going to stop him from trying to take Christian, or me. But I did find out something useful.

I can see him coming; he isn’t any faster than William is, who I can hardly ever see coming. I can block his blows and dodge his punches, and most importantly, which is why I didn’t want you to attack him
, William
is he can’t compel me. Everything he told me to do, I did of my own free will.”

“You did all that on purpose?” Ana asked, but it came out as a strained whisper.

“Hell yes! I was antagonizing him for a reason; you think I would endanger my family for nothing?”

“Why, why do you need to know all that? How did you know you couldn’t be compelled?”

“I thought it might be possible because both you and William have both tried it on me, but William tried it with his full power, and it still didn’t work. I needed to know if Nathaniel was powerful enough to do it, I needed to know how quick he really was. I know he’s older so he’s supposed to be more powerful, but I had to find out because you two will be teaching me to fight him.”

“Fight him! Jules, you can’t fight him.” William was pacing again, “you don’t know that he was even using his full power tonight. You can’t risk it!”

“I will be going after him with or without your help. He will not touch my family
,
and I plan on staking his fucking ass.” I told them both with all seriousness. They just looked at me with blank stares then William said in mocked shock.

“Jules just swore, like with real swear words.”

“Oh, shut the hell up!”