Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series)

by L. C. DeCarlo

  I turned to Ana, “Why do you have these? Some of these should be in a museum.”

  “Why should I turn over my childhood possessions and family heirlooms to a human museum simply because I should have died along with their creators? You are wasting time; there is only so much night available to us. We need to go.” Childhood possessions? Family heirlooms? Just how old was she?

  In what appeared to be an attempt at softening her tone she added, “You may look at these later if you wish. For now we must go.”

  My forgotten pain and burning throat came back to me at once, and I remembered what it was she was leading me to do.

  “I don’t care how bad I feel, how hungry I may be or how much of a monster you have turned me into. You have stolen my life and my family from me. I will not kill someone else, and in turn do the same to them.”

  “Let’s hope not.”

  Then she turned and continued out of the house.

  Chapter Two

  I soon found myself standing on a rooftop that wasn’t too far from where Ana lived and just so happened to be where we worked; the place she’d attacked me.

  “You live really close to work . . .”

  “Yes. It’s intentional; this way if I ever get stuck at work too close to sunrise, I’m close to home.”

  I guess you didn’t get to live as long as her, however long that might be, without learning to plan ahead. I thought she was going to take us into the hospital and was about to object when she turned and faced Washington Park.

  “What are you looking at? What are we doing here?”

  “I’m looking at our hunting ground; I’m finding your next meal. Do you want to continue getting weaker by the hour until I have to carry you home?”

  “It doesn’t seem very prudent to ‘hunt’ where you work and live. What if someone recognizes you?”

  “They won’t.”

  “Oh, that’s incredibly helpful.”

  “Look, we are fast enough that we can move before anyone can see us, hear well enough that we know if anyone, human or otherwise is coming. We smell well enough to recognize the person if we can’t see them. We are graceful enough to never make a sound; therefore able to feed without anyone ever knowing we are here. Is that helpful enough?”

  Her eyes were back to black and her voice tense enough to know that I should back off for now. It was as if I could believe her tension as my own and knew that I could push her too far.

  “Yes, that’s a little more helpful. I still don’t see why we are here. I told you I’m not killing anyone, and I meant it. Why can’t I just drink some blood from the blood bank?”

  She spoke slowly as though trying to release her tension through her words. “Old blood will only help you for a very short period of time, and it is never a long term solution. You need fresh blood, and you need it now. Until your first feeding you will not fully recuperate from the injuries you sustained, and you will not reach your full strength. Even if I were to get you bagged blood, you would be so weak come nightfall tomorrow I don’t think you could walk. As it was, it took us twice as long to get here tonight as it should have.”

  After a few tense moments of just staring at each other, I think she came to understand what my apprehension was.

  It was as though we were having a conversation without speaking because she finally said, “It is not necessary to kill while feeding; as a matter of fact, it is highly preferable that you don’t. If there is a body left behind or a missing person for someone to report, it makes things more difficult for us; but you must be careful, you must listen to me. Stop when I say, do you understand?”

  “Yes. I’d never forgive --”

  “Just follow me.”

  She was right about the silent and graceful part, at least on her end. I didn’t hear a sound she made as we wove our way through the park. I, on the other hand, felt like a bumbling troll clomping about. I was sure everyone in the park could hear me coming. My vision wasn’t as sharp as when I’d first woken up either, though it was still immensely better than before Ana had turned me.

  I was so lost in my own thoughts that I stumbled right into Ana’s back when I didn’t realize she’d stopped walking. I heard her mumble something to the effect of being the first clumsy vampire ever. I just shot her a dirty look and ignored the comment. I looked over to see why we had stopped and saw an older man walking his dog through the park.

  I didn’t know what Ana wanted from me, but I started to hear a faint but steady, “Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump.” I could feel my pupils begin to dilate and my vision sharpen. My nostrils gave a slight flare as I caught a whiff of his aftershave and a hint of something sweet. The sound of his heart beating seemed to be the only thing I could hear. His blood from the tiny nick where he shaved himself the only thing I could smell. His carotid artery beating rhythmically, the only thing I could see.

  I began to move toward him but was stopped by what felt like a band of metal clasped around my upper arm. I turned savagely, baring fangs that weren’t there only moments before. Ana had my arm in a steel-like grip and was holding me back without so much as raising an eyebrow.

  “Go slow, drink little, and stop when I tell you to,” she told me once again.

  “Fine. Let me go.” I said with a restraint I wasn’t sure I had in me at the moment. She released my arm, and I strode confidently toward the old man.

  “That’s a beautiful dog you have, what kind is it?” I asked as I came closer.

  Before he could really answer me his dog started barking and jumping furiously in my direction. As the man bent to soothe the dog, his head turned in such a way that he was baring his neck in full view to my already salivating self. Though I was disgusted with what I was doing, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to turn and run away yet I knew that it was necessary. I didn’t want to die and thought that very well could happen if I didn’t feed. Ana was right, I was getting weaker by the hour already. Besides, I felt confident that Ana would stop me. She wouldn’t let me kill this old man, not when it might bring attention to her in the process.

  So as he turned from me, and bared his neck, I struck. I pulled him to me and slid my fangs into his neck with what felt like a practiced grace. I hit his artery, and immediately felt his blood begin to pool in my mouth. It was sweet and strong, and despite this man’s age, full of life. I almost forgot to swallow as some of his blood began to spill from my mouth, down the sides of my face and down my own neck. I began a slow steady pull on his throat and started to feel his strength becoming my own. I no longer felt weak and shaky; I felt powerful.

  I pulled him tighter to me in a lover’s embrace and began to drink more deeply. As I did, something happened that I was entirely unprepared for. I started seeing flashes of a beautiful woman in a wedding dress, again about six months pregnant on a beach somewhere. I began to feel and believe this man’s over-whelming love for her.

  I vaguely heard someone yelling, “Stop!”

  But I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to feel more of his love, feel more of his strength becoming mine. I wanted more!

  Abruptly, I was yanked away from the man and found myself feeling angry at the loss of him. I turned to yell at Ana with a newfound strength, but instead found myself staring not into the turquoise eyes of my sire, but deep brown eyes with flecks of gold that seemed to be angry themselves.

  “Who are you? Where is Ana?” I demanded.

  “My name is William, I am a friend. I am also the one who tried to stop you from killing that man.”

  The way he emphasized “tried” and that he was still holding me firmly, as if afraid to let go, immediately had me trying to turn to see what I had done. He wouldn’t release me. Why I wasn’t sure, but I could turn around enough to see the old man lying dead on the ground. I tried to listen for a heartbeat, even a faint one, but there was no sound to be heard. Not even that of his barking dog.

  Where was his dog, why had it stopped barking?

  I looked around a little more a
nd found his sheltie lying about ten feet away with the leash still attached and with what looked like a broken neck.

  “Did I do that, the dog I mean?” I stammered.

  “No, Ana did it to keep from drawing attention. It wouldn’t stop barking, and you weren’t stopping.”

  “Where is Ana? She was supposed to stop me, keep me from killing him.” It came out as an anguished whisper; the only sound I could make without crying.

  “I wasn’t here right away, but I was nearby and sensed the two of you. When I got here she was just staring at you in bloodlust. I think she forgot herself in seeing you like that. It was harder for her than she realized.”

  “She was supposed to stop me!” I didn’t care that I was yelling, or that he was a stranger.

  He was still not letting go of me so I did the only thing my anguish at what I had done could seem to manage. I began to hit him on his chest with the side of my closed fist, and I cried. I yelled in pain, only this time from my heart breaking all over again. I began to see myself as he probably did; a hysterical woman covered in blood, and yet I still didn’t care. I dropped to my knees, and still he held me, following me to the ground.

  “Why did she do this, tear my heart and soul from me? My children, my husband, my very reasons for living, taken in a moment, then she forces me to do the same! I hate her! I don’t even know her, yet I hate her, with every fiber of my being.”

  At this point I crumpled into his chest, sobbing my eyes out, the entire time he held me with one arm wrapped around my body, and the other lightly brushing back my hair.

  “Why?” I kept whispering. “Why?”

  Being in this man’s strong arms and having him comforting me was a stark reminder of the husband I had lost and made me cry all the more. I decided in that moment that I would fight for my family, fight for the thing that I loved most in this world. This would be the last time I would allow Ana to take anything from me. The last time she would drive me to a depression so desolate I felt as though my world was crumbling around me.

  So as William held me, I allowed his touch to soothe me, his hold on me to bring me strength. I slowly began to ease down from the sobs to a normal state of mind and finally looked up to see just who I was clinging to as though they were life itself.

  I looked up into William's face with my half dried tears still running down my face, with blood running down my neck and my hair a mess. My eyes are naturally green, but after finally having fed, combined with the hysterics, they were now a glowing emerald green, and just as shiny with help from the tears. Probably not my best first impression.

  “Hello William, My name is Juliana Lucio; it’s nice to meet you.”

  “Oh, we’ve met, you just weren’t very conscious at the time. We’re roommates. Whaddya say we go home and get you cleaned up. Ana will take care of this mess. Trust me."

  Chapter Three

  William stood in one graceful move and reached a hand down to help me stand. I’d felt uncomfortable enough with my display of weakness and utter breakdown in front of him; I didn’t need him thinking I couldn’t manage to stand on my own as well. I stood up just as swiftly and gracefully as he.

  Now that we were standing, and I wasn’t focused entirely on myself I could get a better look at this ‘friend’ of Ana’s. He was rather tall around 6’2” I’d guess. He was lean with a slightly muscular build and was wearing dark fitted jeans over black riding boots. The hand that he had just held out to me was resting along his side. He had large strong hands that looked as if they had seen enough manual labor in their day to actually be of use.

  As my gaze traveled upward I noticed that he was wearing a tight black T-shirt tucked into his jeans that did nothing to hide his washboard abs. I found myself wanting to reach out and feel just how hard they really were. After I managed to draw my eyes upward a bit more, I saw that he was staring at me, his dark brown eyes held a knowing glint to them. The golden specs I saw earlier were being shadowed over by a small ring of black that was starting to grow around the iris of his eyes. His hair was a dirty blond color that fell unruly around his face stopping at his sharp jaw line. He had full lips that quirked up into a smile. He seemed to enjoy that I was so openly admiring him.

  Being near him looking so good made me suddenly feel very self-conscious of my own 5’3” frame. I felt incredibly small and vulnerable compared to the strength that radiated from this man across from me. I looked down to see what I was wearing, and instead, only saw that I was covered in another person’s blood; I felt like an animal. I started to wipe at my face with my sleeve to clean off what blood I could, and I began to turn away from William; in shame at how I must look.

  William reached out to stop me but dropped his hand before touching me, “No, you look beautiful. Don’t be ashamed.”

  I just stared at him wide-eyed not sure really what to say. I didn’t know this person. I didn’t understand why he was being so nice to me.

  “Who are you?” I asked a little uneasily.

  “I told you, I’m a friend, and we’re roommates. We really should get out of here, by the way, and get home so you can clean up. I’m sure you have plenty of questions, and it really will be better to answer them there rather than here waiting for someone to stumble upon us and a dead body.”

  “I should wait for Ana; I don’t really know how to get back,” I told him.

  “Like I said, we’re roommates, you can ride with me. Ana would be really upset if I just left you. Besides she’s going to be out for a while and will need to clean this up before coming home. My bike’s this way.”

  At that he just turned and began walking in the opposite direction that Ana and I had come from. I hesitated for a second then began to follow. After all, I couldn’t imagine him doing anything worse to me than had already happened.

  His bike was left behind a cluster of trees not far off from where we were. The skid marks he left in the grass indicated that he had been going incredibly fast before skidding to a halt. I wondered if his sensing Ana and I was what had brought him so abruptly.

  “Here’s my bike. I don’t have a helmet for you, but then again since we can’t really die from a motorcycle wreck we don’t really need them,” he told me with a smile.

  I think it was meant to be reassuring, but really it just made me more nervous to get on the back of anything with him. He was standing next to a sleek black BMW K1300S, which looked like it was made just for him; it was the fastest and most powerful BMW motorcycle ever made. I silently said a prayer of thanks that I was married. Because after his devil good looks, manners of an angel, combined with the ability to power a machine like this -- that I was married was probably the only thing keeping my common sense alive, and keeping me from trying to yank his clothes off right there.

  William strode over, kicked up the stand, and straddled the bike. The engine came roaring to life, and he just sat there waiting patiently for me to climb on back. I licked my lips in nervousness, not so much about the bike, but about the closeness to him it would require. His eyes were watching my tongue moisten my lips, as he did the dark ring of black in his eyes grew a little larger. He still hadn’t said anything to me about getting on the bike and just sat there watching me, waiting.

  I finally got over my indecisiveness and strode over to him placing my hands on his shoulders; I straddled the bike behind him. He took off almost at once and instinctively my arms moved to wrap tightly around his waist. William maneuvered the streets of Chicago expertly, flying down the side streets at an easy 90 miles an hour, not appearing concerned at all that pedestrians or other vehicles might at any moment come into our lane. I was enjoying the feel of his hard muscled back pressed up against my chest, the planes of his abs under my hands, when we were suddenly home.

  We pulled up to a mansion straight from the Columbian exposition that was set right in Hyde Park. It’s a two story house built of old stone blocks and brick. The property is surrounded by a black wrought-iron fence, which opened upon ou
r arrival. I didn’t notice that William had hit anything to trigger the door to open, and I wondered vaguely if he had some sort of transmitter in his bike to open the gates at his arrival. The front of the house has a huge front entrance with four large stone stairs leading up to an over-sized front door. The house is both beautiful and foreboding at once.

  William slowly rode around to the back of the house and took the bike into a separate brick three car garage. The garage housed another bike identical to the one we were on, a 2011 Audi R8 that boasted a massive V10 engine and could go from zero to sixty in 3.7 seconds, and a black 2012 Supercharged Range Rover Lux HSE.

  “Wow, someone sure likes their cars to come with a lot of speed . . . and the color black.”

  William just smiled a full bright smile this time and told me to follow him into the house.

  “Come on, I’ll show you to your new room so you can clean up. Then we can talk while we wait for Ana.”

  He led me through the amazing library I had been in earlier; even this didn’t hold enough awe to distract me from the idea of a hot shower and just washing this night away. William led me up a set of stairs that I hadn’t noticed earlier, and we came to a large bedroom that was easily double the size of the one I had at home, and I enjoyed a large bedroom at home. I kept going until I came to a bathroom that boasted a bath worthy of Rome. The bathroom is the size of most normal bedrooms. It is covered in smooth white brick that made it appear open and almost gave it an air of being outdoors in the moonlight. I took a quick shower instead of the bath I really wanted, so I could get back downstairs quickly.

  As I was drying off I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Well, I guess that one’s a myth. Then I caught myself and stared; that couldn’t be me. It was me, but not. My skin was so smooth and was starting to take on a slightly paler sheen than I’d ever had before. I still had my olive complexion, but it was almost as if I had a slight glow now. My hair was smoother and shinier than I’d ever been able to get it before. It was a deep chestnut brown that had natural red highlights shimmering throughout. My eyes were a bright emerald green, with no hint of black to them, most likely from the feeding earlier tonight. Where before I’d just thought of myself as short and voluptuous, now I just looked down right seductive. My shortness now looked petite and sexy; my curves no longer looked like too much on me but made me appear feminine and alluring. My breasts were round and full, my hips curvy and attractive.