The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy

by Christina McMullen

  In fact, Lucy realized, they had, on more than one occasion, snuggled together on the sofa to watch television in their pajamas. Not that she was in the habit of wearing particularly sexy pajamas, but wearing little more than threadbare cotton while trying to share cushion space with someone in an equal state of undress, in Lucy's admittedly limited experience, was usually a precursor to other activities that she was pretty sure weren't in this particular job's description.

  Rationally, she understood that this was likely Andre’s version of method acting. It made sense that if they kept their interactions with one another constant, there was less of a chance that anyone would have reason to suspect them. But Lucy’s irrational mind kept drifting to what would happen when the assignment was over and they were back in New Orleans. She wondered if Andre would go back to being professional and detached, and she wondered where that would leave her emotional state.

  A piercing scream jarred her back to the present. She turned to follow the sound, but Andre grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Lucy,” his voice held a warning.

  “You’re joking!” Lucy stared at him, horrified. “I can’t just ignore something like that!”

  “We don’t know what that even was and besides, we are not the hunters here.”

  “Oh yeah, and what are they doing?” Lucy flipped her hand in the direction of the two hunters who were still sitting at the café. She pulled out her phone and scanned the area. Sure enough, one block over there were two dots, one yellow and one green in close proximity. She held the phone up to Andre. “That’s all the proof I need.” She jerked free of his grasp, but Andre was faster, overtaking her before she could get to the corner.

  “Lucy, did you even listen when I told you what we’re dealing with here?”

  “You can’t honestly expect me to allow someone to die, can you, Andre?” Lucy tried to pull free, but Andre’s grip on her arm was solid. “Even if we don’t kill the vamp, we can try to get help for whoever that was scream-” Her plea was cut short when a long, thin hand came down on her shoulder. She turned her head slightly and saw a vampire with stark white skin and ice blue eyes staring down at her.

  “Comment puis-je vous aider?”

  Lucy noticed a thin streak of blood in the corner of his mouth and blanched. “Uh, no habla Espanol.” Taking advantage of the vampire’s momentary confusion, Lucy unsheathed a CPA and plunged it blindly behind her, breathing only when she felt the needle make contact and the vampire fell away from her.

  “Lucy we have to get out of here right now!”

  She turned back and saw real fear in Andre’s eyes. “The screamer-”

  “Is already dead,” Andre said calmly, “and we will be too if we don’t get out of here! Lucy, please listen to me!”

  “No!” Lucy felt as if the air was being sucked from her lungs. “You don’t know that!”

  “Yes, Lucy,” Andre grabbed her arm and dragged her forcefully around the corner and pointed down. “I do.” A woman slumped against the side of a trashcan, covered in blood.

  “Oh my god.” Lucy swayed, her knees threatening to buckle. Suddenly the police sirens that had been a constant part of the background noise began to get louder.

  “Lucy,” Andre’s voice was near hysterical. “I’m not going to say this again, we need to get out of here right now!”

  She shook away the shock and nodded, allowing Andre to pull her in the opposite direction of the sirens. Fortunately, the street they were on was deserted and there was a Metro stop nearby. Unwilling to take any extra risk, Andre sent them in the wrong direction and changed trains several times before deciding it was safe to take the route home.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Andre shouted as soon as they entered the apartment. “I told you we were to stay out of the way. We’re not here to hunt!”

  The shock of what happened had worn off and Lucy felt her anger rising. “What I was thinking was that someone was in danger and two of the hunters that Evan pays to keep people safe did exactly nothing! If you hadn’t held me back I might have gotten there in time to save her!”

  “You were lucky there were no other vampires in the vicinity, but you heard the sirens, someone saw us!”

  “Do you even care that someone died tonight?” Lucy asked hysterically. “How many people are killed here nightly because your hunters are afraid of witnesses? Don’t they have blanks?”

  “Lucy, Paris isn’t New Orleans. There are millions of people who live here. They can’t exactly kill a vampire then blank the hundreds of people who likely witnessed it.”

  “I don’t get it, why even have hunters here? If everyone is so damned complacent then pull out!” Lucy was shouting again and tears shimmered in her eyes. “Move EJC to some other city where vampires aren’t a problem.”

  “Lucy,” Andre’s voice softened slightly yet still held an exasperated tone, “you’re letting your emotions take over again.”

  “You’re damned right they are!” Lucy sobbed, unable to hold the tears back. “I don’t know what’s worse, knowing the ES is murdering whoever they want or the fact that there is a team of vampire hunters who don’t try to stop them. How do they sleep at night? How do you?”

  “You knew what you were getting into,” Andre reminded her.

  “No, I really didn’t!” Lucy began pacing in an attempt to calm down, but it wasn’t working. She kept thinking of the dead woman, something she would have never let happen in New Orleans. “If you recall, we only had a day’s notice, and before that all Evan said was that the problem was bad here. He didn’t explain that bad equals horrifying. Argh!” She threw herself down into the nearest chair and buried her head in her hands, wiping away her tears and sniffling. “You were right, I can’t do this.”

  “Bullshit Lucy.” Andre sank to his knees in front of her. “Yes you can. You’ve survived so far, you just need to realize this is a war zone, and the rules are a little bit different.”

  Lucy lifted her head and stared at Andre with red-rimmed watery eyes. “I’m not you, Andre. Evan told me what he made you go through before he let you join the team. He also told me that you were concerned because I didn’t have nearly as much training as you. You were right. He made a mistake. I shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “You’ve more than proven yourself where hunting is concerned,” Andre assured her.

  “No, I’ve gotten lucky a lot more than I care to admit. But I don’t think training is going to help me to get over the fact that there are situations that I can’t control. You’re right. I’ve been reckless because I could be. That’s where you have the advantage. You don’t, well, you didn’t have my unique abilities. You had to be careful, you had to be skilled.”

  Andre didn’t say anything. Instead, he stared down at his own hands deep in thought. Lucy could tell he was struggling with something, but she didn’t know what. “I have my reasons,” he said finally.

  Lucy nodded. “I know.”

  He turned towards her and Lucy saw hurt, deep hurt in his expression. “No, you don’t know.” He stood abruptly and shed his jacket, then to Lucy’s shock, his shirt as well. He moved to stand beneath the solitary lamp in the room and turned to face her.

  “Andre, my god!” Lucy gasped. She was out of the chair and across the room before she realized what she was doing. Three ragged pink lines marred the flesh on Andre’s chest. Scars peppered his left shoulder down to his forearm as well. She tore her gaze from the marks and met his eyes cautiously. “I-I thought you could heal…like I can?”

  “These scars are old, Lucy,” Andre spoke quietly. “Even after your blood erased all traces of the last attack, these remain as a reminder of the consequences of acting without rational thought.” He moved to put his shirt back on, but Lucy stopped him.

  “Andre, wait.” Hesitantly, she placed her hand on his shoulder, tracing her fingertips lightly down his arm to where the scars came to a stop, just above his elbow, noting Andre’s discomfort with the attention she was gi
ving them. “You never wear short sleeves. I hadn’t realized…”

  “If you’re quite through, I’d like to put my shirt back on,” Andre said, still not looking in Lucy’s direction.

  “No, I’m not through, partner, look at me.” She reached up and placed an insistent hand on Andre’s cheek, forcing him to look at her. “Don’t hide from me, Andre, tell me. What happened? Who did this to you?”

  With a deep sigh, he took Lucy’s hand from his cheek and led her over to the sofa where they sat in silence for several minutes while he struggled with what to say. It was his own fault for showing her the scars in the first place, but he hadn’t anticipated her reaction. Lucy was right, of course, as his partner, she had every right to know what had happened, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to relive the mistakes that he had kept hidden from all but the handful of people who had saved his life that night.

  “My first night out,” he said at last, his voice barely above a whisper, “Evan took me himself. We were following a watcher’s tip when I saw a vampire attack a woman behind a bar. Rather than tell Evan, I just took off running. I charged into the alley and was immediately jumped by another vampire that I hadn’t seen. He missed my neck, but as you can see, he was able to do a lot of damage with his claws before biting my arm. By the time I was able to land a killing blow the other vampire had taken off.” Andre swallowed and took a deep breath. “And the girl was dead.”

  Lucy was completely stunned. Andre was the last person she would have ever expected to charge into a dangerous situation. But of course that made perfect sense now, she reminded herself. Unlike her, Andre had taken the attack as a lesson. “My god, Andre, I’m so sorry.”

  “So am I,” he whispered, “so am I.”

  “I should have listened,” Lucy admitted in a small voice. “I mean, really listened. How many times have I charged into a situation without thinking because I knew I’d survive? Not once did I consider that my actions could have gotten someone else killed. That’s what you’ve been telling me all along.”

  “Like I said, I had my reasons.”

  They each sat, deep in thought, neither sure what they should say to the other. Finally, Andre reached out and pulled her closer to him. “Hey,” he said gently. “I’m sorry I went off on you like that. It sucks that our hands are tied, and I’m sorry about that too. Just promise me you won’t run off again. You may not injure easily, but if they catch you, they’ll find a way to kill you.”

  “I promise, but doing nothing if we run into the same situation again, that doesn't sit well with me.”

  “Lucy...”

  “But,” she continued, pointing a finger for emphasis, “don’t think I haven’t heard everything you’ve told me. You’re forgetting, I have scars too, Andre. Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I think you know that as well as I do.”

  Andre regarded her with a mixture of compassion, frustration, and something more that he wasn’t quite ready to put a name to. “I know, Lucy. And I hope that someday soon we can both heal those scars that others can’t see. But right now, we need to focus on staying alive.”

  “And doing what is right.” she added stubbornly.

  “We’re working on that, Lucy. Remember that.”

  “That doesn’t make it any easier,” Lucy half spoke, half yawned. Her head drooped involuntarily against Andre’s chest.

  “I know,” he whispered as he tried to ignore the pleasant sensation of Lucy’s hair spilling over his bare chest. “You should probably get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  His suggestion was met with slow, rhythmic breathing. For a long time he sat and watched Lucy sleep, absently brushing stray strands of hair from her face. She looked so peaceful that he didn’t want to move her, but as he began to lose his own battle with exhaustion, Andre realized that they both would be far more appreciative if they didn’t wake up with stiff muscles from sleeping on the sofa all night. Gently, he stood and carried Lucy up the stairs, hesitating for one maddening moment before he opened the door to his childhood room and carefully laid Lucy on the narrow bed before retiring, alone, to the room across the hall.

  Chapter 24

  Lucy and Andre set up residence in a dark corner of an outdoor café that afforded them a view of the entrance to Noirotique. Heavily disguised, they sipped coffee and watched as well-dressed vampires, mostly male, gained entrance to the exclusive club. Lucy glanced at her cell phone for the tenth time in as many minutes. She was bored and her blonde wig itched.

  “You know, if you keep looking at the time, you might miss your suspect.”

  “And if you keep watching me check the time, then you’ll miss the suspect too,” Lucy retorted before sitting up suddenly. “Never mind that, here he comes.” She nodded her head in the direction of a man who was fidgeting nervously in front of the velvet rope that blocked the club’s entrance. The bouncer was speaking to another vampire who nodded, indicating that Joseph was to follow. Lucy pressed the stop button on her phone’s high definition video camera just as Andre was doing the same.

  “And now we wait.”

  Lucy sighed. “I suppose you should order us a few more coffees.”

  Andre glanced at the saltshaker that was disappearing and reappearing in Lucy’s hands. “No more coffee for you, darling. Besides, we need to be on alert.”

  They waited in silence, watching the door for activity. Lucy noticed that the bouncer was giving someone a hard time.

  “You know, I’ve seen a lot of vamps go in, but no one has come out. There might be another door.”

  “There’s a service entrance out back, but no one has come out of there either.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The hemograph,” Andre said with exasperation, flashing his phone’s screen at Lucy. “Why aren’t you using yours?”

  Lucy looked sheepish. “Um, because I’m an idiot?”

  “Well stop being an idiot.” Andre leveled a hard look at her.

  Sighing, Lucy palmed a fork and surreptitiously scratched her scalp under the wig. She opened the hemograph on her own phone and shuddered at the mass of yellow dots that appeared. She adjusted the range and searched for Joseph’s green dot. He was moving towards the front of the building, escorted by two vampires.

  “He’s coming,” Andre pointed out, “but I’m a bit more interested in this group he was meeting with, they’re headed out the back door.”

  Lucy nudged Andre and pointed discreetly across the street where Joseph had emerged alone and began walking up the road at a quick pace. “Better decide which is more important.”

  “Dammit! Can you follow him? I really want to find out what’s going on in that alley.”

  “I’m on it.” Lucy stood then turned back. “But Andre, be careful. Don’t make me go turning your lectures around on you.”

  Up ahead, Joseph was turning south onto Rue d’Amsterdam. Pedestrian traffic thinned as they moved away from the popular nightlife area, which forced Lucy to hang back and hug the shadows, grateful for the padded soles on her designer look-alike boots that allowed her to move soundlessly. Lucy broke into a run when she saw Joseph ascend the steps of a columned building several blocks ahead of her. As she neared the building, she recognized it as la Madeleine, the church she had found so fascinating the week before.

  Praying that the doors were well oiled, Lucy slipped inside, made her way silently across the vestibule, and peeked through the heavy wooden doors. Joseph was sitting in one of the middle pews, his head bent as if in prayer, shoulders moving slightly. Slipping soundlessly into the church, she slid into the row of pews just behind him and unsheathed a CPA, allowing the audible click of the safety being disengaged to break the stillness. Joseph stiffened at the sound, but did not turn.

  “You’ve got ten seconds to convince me not to kill you for treason, and the excuse that we’re in a church isn’t good enough.”

  Joseph turned slowly revealing eyes that were red,
puffy and tear filled. “Who are you?” He whispered.

  Lucy plucked the itchy blonde wig from her head, dumping it unceremoniously on the seat next to her, and removed the scarf she had wrapped high over her face.

  “Mon Dieu!” Joseph’s eyes widened as he realized where he had seen Lucy before. “Lucy? But you are…How do you know about...”

  “I know a bit more about the true nature of your work than Andre let on earlier. I also happen to know that the attack that almost killed Andre was organized because of an information leak from the Paris office and you have just been caught meeting with The Eyes of the Sun at their private club, so you might want to start explaining.”

  Joseph’s breathing was ragged as he slumped forward in his seat. “They took my wife three weeks ago,” he whispered. “They took her from our home while I was out here, working. They said they would kill her if I did not give them what they wanted. Tonight…” He broke off, unable to choke back his sobs. Lucy relaxed her grip on her weapon. “Tonight they let me see her,” he continued. “I deserve death, for what I did, I know that! But Ephebia!” Joseph wailed remorsefully. “It is terrible! She is drugged and they drink her blood. I know they have done other terrible things to her. They wouldn’t let me even talk to her!”

  “Did you ever consider that if you had told Evan immediately, your wife might already be safe at home?”

  Joseph leapt to his feet, terrified. Andre was striding down the aisle towards them with the look of disgusted disappointment that Lucy was all too familiar with.

  “Andre!” Joseph fell to his knees. “Please! I’m sorry, so very sorry. But Ephebia! If I told Evan, they would kill her! Kill me if you wish, Andre, but not before I see that my wife is safe.”

  “What I have planned is worse than death, Joseph,” Andre spat.