Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series)

by L. C. DeCarlo

  She stood over me looking down with sorrow and pity, “I’ll help you. We’ll fix this together somehow.”

  Chapter Six

  The police didn’t know exactly what had happened to me, there wasn’t a weapon or DNA of my perpetrator at the scene, the security cameras didn’t work that night, and they suspected that whoever did it either worked at the hospital or took my badge to open the gate.

  I found all this out by continuing to visit my family in the evenings after feeding. I didn’t have anything else to do, and it made me feel less anxious watching over them. I overheard as Antonio was told I had been beaten, possibly killed, and abducted from the employee parking garage. The police, of course, had still not found my body, but there was a lot of my blood at the scene, my broken cell phone, and my missing car; they were on the verge of declaring me dead anyways. Antonio still refused to believe it, even from the police.

  Ana never let me see her, but I knew she was nearby, watching over me; just as I did with my family. I sometimes sensed two signatures and wondered why William felt the need to follow me as well.

  I was sitting in the tree house in my backyard when I began talking out loud to Ana. I didn’t know her exact location, but I could tell she was near, and I was betting she could hear me.

  “Ana, we need to give them a body; we need to give them something to make it look like they have finally found me. Antonio needs closure. I am going to reveal myself to my family or put an end to this one way or another.”

  No response.

  I thought the threat of revealing myself would be enough to make her come out of hiding. Where was she anyway?

  “Ana, you said you would help me. At least come out to talk to me.”

  I saw my son leaving the house, again. He had been going out later than usual for the past three nights now. I would have followed him, but it seemed that Talia was always over as he left. I wanted to know if her interest in my family was innocent or if she were trying to move in on my husband before he’d even buried me. Besides, Christian was 16 now, he had a life with his friends. I was glad he was going out again, and he was always home before I left.

  Talia was in the living room talking to Antonio, “Have they told you anything new?”

  “Nothing, the detective at the station isn’t answering my calls. I hope that means he’s out trying to find Jules, but I have a feeling he’s just blowing me off.”

  Antonio blew out a sigh of frustration and let his head fall back onto the couch. He looked as if he had at least showered and combed his hair today, but he was still sporting scruff along his face and looked just as wearied as he had the previous nights. Talia began to rub his shoulders in a comforting way but let her hands linger just a little longer than she would have normally. It’s just my imagination. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

  “I’m sure they’ll call as soon as they know something, they wouldn’t not tell you, if they knew anything.” She quickly changed the subject, “Antonio, how are you and the boys holding up? Are you sure I can’t do anything to help? Why don’t you come over to my place tomorrow, and I’ll cook all of you dinner. I’m sure you could all use a little distraction right now.”

  She was smiling sweetly, and I should be grateful for her trying to cheer them up. I wanted them to start to move forward, but I felt as if she was trying to steal them from me. It was contradictory of me, I know, but I didn’t want my husband to be attracted to her, even if it did help him.

  I decided to head back to William and Ana’s; I still wouldn’t call it my place, or home for that matter.

  I had to walk around the corner to get the car. William had been letting me drive his Audi R8, and it was a sweet ride to say the least. It handled like no other sports car that I’ve heard of. It is loaded with technology, luxury, and took corners like it was on rails. I knew he inspected it every night when I got back to the garage; a few times I intentionally waited until the last minute to go inside so he would have to wait until the following nightfall to look it over. A little sadistic, I know, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

  I was still preoccupied with trying to figure out why Ana wouldn’t talk to me, as I was pulling the car in the garage. As I predicted, William was out the backdoor of the house waiting for me to hand over the key fob before I even had the thing in park. I just gave a slight smirk and handed it over, as he made his rounds about the car.

  “Hey William, do you have any idea when Ana’s going to be home? I’ve wanted to talk to her about something.”

  “She’s in the kitchen now, been working on something for nights.”

  He told me a little distractedly as he bent down to inspect the undercarriage. Did he think I had been going four-wheeling or something?

  “What do you mean she’s back already; there’s no way she can beat me home when I’m driving this beauty. Did you know that you can hit 90 in about six seconds flat on a straight away?”

  That got his attention. “I mean, so I’ve heard, on the commercial . . . they were doing a road test . . . err, or something. I’m just gonna go get Ana, how did she get home so fast, exactly?” I started backing toward the door then made a break for it as soon as I was clear of the garage.

  “Juliana! I told you no speeding in my Audi, and they don’t make commercials for this, so I know that was a lie! Next time you’re taking the bike, and by that I mean the pedaling kind!”

  He was stalking after me into the house when I found Ana perched at the kitchen table with all kinds of maps, notes, pens, highlighters all scattered across the kitchen table. There was a pot of coffee that had been brewed a little while earlier; I knew both William and Ana did that not because they could consume it, but rather because they believed the aroma was soothing. She had obviously been here for a while and had not just walked in the door as I suspected.

  I turned on William, “Why did you just let me talk to myself like that? You knew I wanted to talk to Ana, and you just let me carry on. You could have shown yourself you know instead of skulking around in the bushes.”

  This caught the attention of both of them.

  “What are you talking about; I told you she was here as soon as you asked about her?”

  “I’m not talking about now. I’m talking about earlier, at my house. I was trying to talk to Ana, to get her to come out of hiding. She was obviously here, so it must have been you.”

  This caused the two of them to exchange confused glances with one another.

  “Jules, I’ve been here all night long, fretting over what you were doing to my Audi. I wasn’t following you; if I were, I wouldn’t ‘skulk’, and you wouldn’t know about it.”

  “Well someone was there; I know what it feels like when you two are around. So who was it then?”

  I still wasn’t sure I believed them that they weren’t following me. I knew what other vampire signatures felt like, and I always knew when either of them was drawing close. They had been doing it all week.

  I suddenly had Ana’s full attention, “Why is it that you think you’re ‘feeling’ us?”

  “Give me a little credit would you; I know what another vampire signature feels like. I feel a prickling go up the back of my neck, and I can even sense how many there are. I feel it every time I’m at my family’s house; the sensation stays with me the entire time I’m there, that’s why I thought it was the two of you. Making sure I didn’t try something stupid again. It starts up about a quarter of the way there.”

  Silence. I could feel Ana’s tension rising like the sun, but she said and did nothing, William was just as good at giving nothing away. I was going to count to ten before I lost it, that’s what the professionals say to do right, count to ten? I made it to three.

  “What the Hell is going on!” I yelled without caring I was losing my temper. Again.

  “Ok, look, there have been some other vampires in town. I ran into one of them the other night on my way to check up on you.” Ana was the one looking angry now.


  “I knew it! I was right you guys were skulking around in the bushes!”

  “We were not – anyways, on my way there I came across them hunting some prey, and I say that lightly because I would not have come across them unless they wanted me to know they were here.”

  Ana seemed tense, and I knew she was hiding something. I didn’t always let on to everything I could sense from her, but this I knew, she wasn’t telling me everything.

  “What did they want?”

  “They wanted to meet you, to see how my new ‘child’ was doing,” she said with a sneer.

  “They wanted to know why you were out by yourself, and not with me. They were genuinely surprised to see that you are not as ‘attached’ to me as most newly turned vamps are to their makers. I told them you were out feeding with William and that you two have a way of teaming up in order to keep from killing.”

  Ana had a look of guilt that flashed across her face that disappeared just as quickly. She was good at hiding her emotions, but I was getting good at reading hers, plus I could feel it.

  “Why do I feel your guilt Ana? What’s wrong with them knowing about me?”

  “It’s them isn’t it?” William interrupted, “The Retta’s. They didn’t like it that we still weren’t killing our prey, nor that we are teaching a new vampire to not kill as well.”

  I was getting more and more anxious about the entire situation.

  “Wait, if you and William weren’t with me all week, and I was sensing other vampires, then that means that they know where my family . . .” My voice was trailing off at the end, for half-a-second the room began to spin, I felt William reach out to steady me before I fell.

  “No, I made sure to stay away from you; I haven’t gone with you since after the first night you saw them. I didn’t go see you the night I ran into Victoria. I didn’t want to lead them to you,” Ana said hurriedly.

  “I did, I went to you.” William started saying quickly, “Just once, after that first time you went to see your family. I wanted to make sure you were okay; I was going to ask if I could stay with you -- I wasn’t skulking around; I just wanted you to know I was there if you needed me. You looked so content though, so different from the first time you came home that I didn’t want to intrude. I left and haven’t bothered you since, I swear it.” His face fell as he finished explaining, “Oh my God, it was me. I led them right to you and your family.”

  His deep brown eyes turned their full intensity on me; he grabbed me by the upper arms and forced me to look him in the eye.

  “You need to believe me; I didn’t do it on purpose!”

  I still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but the news of these two vampires being in town was apparently a very, very bad thing. William turned his repentant eyes on Ana, only he gave her daggers of anger.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let me lead them right to her! What are you trying to do?”

  I had never seen him so angry before and realized what I thought was anger before was really just mild annoyance.

  “Are you so jealous of one kiss that you’d risk her life? Is that what this is about?”

  He was getting closer to Ana as he yelled at her, his eyes were almost all black with is anger.

  “How dare you accuse me of endangering her life. I’m not the one that led them straight to her. I think you’re the one that’s jealous over her husband. Not being able to get her into bed because she’d rather sit and watch him through a window all night long instead!”

  William gave a loud roar like one I’d only ever heard on the discovery channel and lunged for Ana with his arms stretching long for her throat. She met him mid-air and their bodies collided in turmoil of pent-up aggression, jealously, anger, and fear of what was coming. They scratched and tore at each other; Ana backhanded William across his cheek and left a wide gash going across his right cheekbone.

  Almost as soon as it was there it was healing up on its own. William retaliated by grabbing her arm and bending it backward. I heard a series of sharp snaps that left her arm dangling in an odd manner and knew that he just gave her a completely dislocated open spiral fracture. Ana responded by pushing her arm back into place, and I could hear the bones snapping themselves back together. As educational as this was on the vampire physiology and its healing abilities, this was getting me nowhere, while my family was in danger.

  “Stop it!” I yelled as loudly as I could -- it did nothing.

  They didn’t so much as flinch let alone slow up on the fighting. I strode over to the table, grabbed it by the edge and flung it across the room, and tried again.

  “Stop it!” This got their attention.

  “I will ask one more time before I go looking for these two vamps myself. What the hell is going on? Who are they, and what do they want with me?”

  “That’s just it, Jules,” William had flashed to my side and was cupping my cheek as he spoke, “the only thing they ever want is death, and the fact that they have you in their sights can only be a bad thing.”

  “I’m going home, I have to check on --” I heard the whirring sound of the shutters beginning to close for sunrise.

  “No! Not now, I need to go!”

  I was starting to become panicky and could sense the darkness closing in. Ana was at my side, I was getting tired. Why do they get to stay up with the sun?

  “Juliana, listen to me, quickly, before you pass out. The sun is your friend today, it protects your family just as it keeps you prisoner. The Retta’s cannot go to them either, your family is safe. I have a plan to close your file; I have been working on it all week.”

  She was getting blurry, and I had a hard time concentrating on her, but I knew I needed to try.

  “Please trust me, I didn’t endanger you on purpose, I thought they left. I would protect you with my life.”

  Everything was going black as I started to fall into my deep unconsciousness the last thing I remember was Ana leaning over me and the feel of her soft lips brushing lightly against mine.

  Chapter Seven

  I woke the next night and got dressed right away in my tight fitting Zco. jeans, my favorite ones with the embroidery on the pockets and waist, black and gray DC Shoes, and a white Volcom T-shirt that says “Kiss Don’t Kill” across the front with big kissing lips on it. I thought it was a bit ironic given our situation. I pulled my hair up into a quick pony tail and ran down the stairs to wait for Ana and William.

  They were already waiting at the kitchen table. In fact, they had the time to pick up the table I had thrown across the room the night before and fix all the damage from their fighting. They were getting along and having a serious conversation as if they were never at each other’s throats the night before.

  Ana looked put together and sophisticated in a pale pink ruffle tier tank, skinny jeans, and a simple pair of cream colored flats. William was leaning against the counter holding a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked tall and sexy as usual, and I couldn’t help the spark of desire I felt as soon as I saw him. I think he noticed because he turned his head and immediately met my eyes with his deep brown ones. He was dressed in fitted distressed Diesel jeans and an un-tucked button up shirt. He was barefoot with his legs crossed at the ankle and his blond shaggy hair gave him the look of a carefree surfer.

  He gave me a smile that met his eyes, and I could see a hint of fang at the corner of his lips; with that my stomach tightened, and I wanted to go straight to him. His eyes began to show a slight rim of black, and I could tell he was inhaling the scent of my desire.

  “Jules, you look great tonight. Love the shirt.” He moved to put down his cup of coffee, but Ana blocked his path to me.

  I could tell she was upset at our unspoken exchange, very jealous about it in fact, and a little embarrassed. I assumed the latter was because the kiss last night; I wasn’t going to say anything about it if she didn’t. I wasn’t interested in having a romantic relationship with Ana. Hell, I was still getting used to not hating her all
the time, and if that was something she wanted from me, she was going to be disappointed.

  “Thanks, so do you.”

  “Alright, I have a question for you two.”

  I finally managed to pull my stare away before I made good on what my shirt suggested and planted a big wet one on him right here and now.

  “Why the hell do I pass out cold the second the sun rises while you two get to stay up and play, and still get to wake up way before me? It’s not fair!” I was completely serious, how long had they been up anyway?

  The sun only rose 15 minutes ago. I didn’t even take a shower before I came down, hoping to beat them. They however, thought this was horribly funny. They just stared at me for a moment, and both burst out laughing!

  “This is what you are concerned about? Our ‘bedtime’. I thought your big question was going to be about Victoria and Nathaniel!” Ana was tearing up.

  “Ok, this really isn’t necessary. It’s a serious question; why do I always freaking pass out? How long have you two been up anyways -- did you even try to wake me up?”

  William was laughing, but trying to hold it in.

  “You sound like a little kid, complaining that the big kids got to stay up later than you.”

  William was making his way over to me and had finally stopped laughing at me. He brushed the backs of his knuckles down my cheek when he spoke.

  “The older you get, the more resistant you become to the sun’s pull; but you will always have to sleep some during daylight hours. That is why we have so many safeguards around the house. You are just a newborn, almost like a newborn baby, and require lots of ‘sleep’ as you put it.”

  He leaned in closer, the length of his body almost touching mine, but not quite, and whispered into my ear, “I’ll gladly try to see if I can wake you up earlier if you’d like though.”

  When he pulled back to look at me his eyes held mine, they were almost all black, and he had a sexy smile showing the tips of his fangs. How he’d figured out that turned me on, I didn’t know. Maybe it was a coincidence?