Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series) (7 page)

“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.

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
.
H
e 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
.
H
e 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?

I just swallowed loudly
.
I didn’t
know how to respond to that, didn’t
know if I wanted him trying to wake me up
.
I had a very good idea what his technique might involve, but I also didn’t
know that I
didn’t
want him to try. Oh man, was I confused.

“So what have you two been talking about while I was in my coma then?”

I went with ignoring the whole comment William made; that always made things easier.
Right?

“We’ve been working on a plan to kill you,” Ana said tensely.

“What!” I spun around to look at her and could see she was pissed
at William
and me both.

“You said you wanted to give your family some closure, that they needed to move on, so we’re going to give them that; we are going to kill you.” She said this with a little too much satisfaction as her lips turned up into a half smile.

“Look Ana, I know you’re pissed at me – I can’t really say why, but I’m sorry okay. You don’t need to kill me. AGAIN!”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic, we aren’t going to really kill you, just give your family a body so they can move on. Though now that you mention it, I am a little angry with you. . .”

“What the hell, do you just decide to kill me on the days you get bored or what? Freakin’ vampires.”

“Jules, do you ever say a real cuss word?” William was trying not to laugh again.

“Hell is a cuss word, and I use it all the time. Like now, go to Hell.” This time he did start laughing at me all over again.

“Ughh! Ana what’s the plan? I want to get this over with.”

“Alright well, I have two plans really; I guess you get to pick which one you want to go with. I still have your car in the storage shed, so what I want to do is dump it for the police to find with a few bits of you in it. That along with the amount of blood they found at the scene of the crime will give the police enough to hopefully declare you dead, even though they won’t have your body.”

“Ok, yuck. What do you mean exactly by ‘a few bits of me’?”

“We can pull a few teeth since they’ll grow right back, some hair, maybe some skin –"

“Alright, you’re seriously grossing me out! Stop, what’s plan two?”

“Plan two, which is far less safe, is we dump the car near to the police station as soon as you wake up. We dump it with your body in the trunk. We do it as close to sunset as possible so it will give them enough time to get you out of the car and into the morgue before sunrise. You breathe all the time now, but you do it out of habit not necessity
.  Y
our heart rate is so low that it is almost non-existent, and you are becoming paler every day. As long as you can remain
apneic
and unmoving around that many humans
,
you will appear for all purposes dead. As long as we dirty you up
,
they won’t notice at the scene that you are actually healthier now than you have ever been.”

“What about the medical examiner? Won’t he try to cut me open, find the cause of death? Won’t they notice the lack of wounds on me when they find my body to have caused that much blood loss?”

“I’ll be going in as the M.E.; I already have an alias set in place for just such an occasion. I’ll be a transfer from another county working the night shift,” William said a bit solemnly.

“The real concern is, like you said, the wound, and also the sunlight. I can protect you during the day. I’ve already gone in and modified one of the body refrigerators so that it can be locked from the inside and out. This way if they should cut off my lock, which I doubt, you’ll still be locked in and safe from the sun, until I can get back at sunset. We just have to make sure they get you to me before sunrise.” All playfulness was now gone from William’s features as he tried to emphasize the seriousness of this.

“What about the wound and what will William do to get safe during the day should things cut too close?”

“We both know that head wounds bleed the most profusely and are the easiest to hide. They also cause the most life threatening injuries. If we cause enough of a wound that can be hidden by most of your hair
,
it won’t be immediately discernable how bad it is or isn’t
.
I
f you’re covered in dried blood it will automatically make it appear worse than it really is. You know this from the patients you see at the hospital
;
they rush in because they think their scratch is a major wound because of the amount of blood they see.” Ana was explaining in her best doctor voice.

“I’ll be turning in a fake Cause of Death report that will state that the wound was severe and the cause of the death due to blunt force trauma and hemorrhaging. Your family will think that you passed quickly and will be given a body. They will have their closure.”

“Yes, let’s just hope that you never told your husband that you wanted an open casket funeral at full noon and we should be fine. William will convince your husband to go with a cremation, and there will be no need to worry about a daytime service risking you.”

“Wait- why is William going to be talking to my husband?”

“He is going to want to see you Jules – if he comes to the morgue, I can talk him into a cremation. It will give him closure to see you; he won’t truly believe it otherwise. Trust me.”

His eyes held a sorrow that went beyond my own
.
I wondered if he understood me more than I realized and if I would ever know the truths that lie in
the hidden depths of his deep brown eyes.

“So, he agrees to the cremation, and I get out of there before anyone realizes what happened, or rather, didn’t happen to me?”

“Yes,” they responded in unison.

“Whose body are we going to give them to cremate?”

“It doesn’t matter, it won’t be you,” Ana said in her off handed way.

“It does matter, it matters to me. It matters to someone else’s family if their loved ones body is suddenly missing. The reason I am even in this situation to begin with is because you in your long life have yet to understand that other people DO matter. These people aren’t your play things to do with as you please then throw out when you’re done.” I snapped back through clenched teeth.

“No, the reason you are in this situation to begin with is because I thought YOU might have mattered, and I couldn’t bear to throw you out like I was
supposed
to. The reason we are going through this elaborate ploy to begin with, instead of making you just leave your family
,
is because I am trying to make it up to you by not treating them as though they don’t matter.” She countered just as quickly.

Ana was not only angry this time but also offended as well. She was trying very hard to make things right
for my family. This was for me so I could feel
b
etter about leaving them
;
as my Sire she could just compel me into leaving them alone, though we both had our doubts about how well that would go. Even if it did cause me to leave my family alone, it wouldn’t
stop me from hating Ana, which she was trying to avoid.

“Ok, I’m sorry I offended you, you are both going through a lot just to help me feel better. I just meant to say that I don’t want some other person's body taken and given to my family
.
I
t’ll be noticed very obviously that there was a missing body. We don’t need the attention. And I don’t want another family feeling that grief because of me.”

“We aren’t going to steal a body
;
we plan to take some ashes from a few different cremations and mix in some ashes from the fireplace in order to have enough substance to give your family. We aren’t going to take enough to go noticed. I promise.”

Ana had that look she gave me the other night right before I passed out
;
the one that begged me to trust her. It was hard, I wanted to trust her, I wanted to let her be the Sire she desired, but when I looked at her I still saw the face that stole my first life from me; the face that took my family.

I took a leap of faith, “Okay, how soon can we do it?”