Rising Son (The Juliana Lucio Series) (2 page)

Luckily for me the house we lived in was situated in the middle of Hyde Park, Chicago. I didn’t think I’d be walking long before I came across someone to serve as dinner. God, how far had I’d come to even be thinking like that. It had only been a few months since Ana had attacked me. We were both doctors in the emergency department at The University of Chicago Medical Center, she had been under orders to kill me, and decided to turn me instead. I was angry, distraught and hated her for what she had done to me; she stole my life and family. We had ended up developing an uneasy friendship or least a truce, as I thought she was helping me rescue my son from two master vampires, but now I didn’t know what to believe. She was just as likely the enemy as Nathaniel, the master vampire, had been.

I could hear the soft hum of a car engine coming around the corner a little ways down the road. I pulled off my leather jacket and held it under my arm to make myself a little less bike
r chick
intimidating, and more damsel-in-
distress hottie. I was wearing the
tight ribbed, white muscle tank William had picked out for me along with the leather pants I had on. My chestnut brown hair was a mess and fell to about my mid-back. I was covered in dust, and debris from having a building collapse around and on top of me. I think it went without saying I’d had better days, but my looking so bad would probably help get someone to stop for me sooner.

It was only moments after I first heard the hum of the engine that it came around the corner. It had the unmistakable clunking sound of a late model car; cheap, un-reliable, and easy to patch. I exaggerated a limp and stuck out my thumb to hitch a ride. A late model Honda Civic with a rusted out back panel idled up beside me.

“Hey, you need a ride?” A young guy with light brown hair was leaning over to look out the passenger side window.

“Um . . . yeah, I wrecked my bike a little ways back . . . is this the way to the hospital? I think I hit my head . . . or something.” I started staggering forward, but I didn’t entirely have to fake the dizziness.

“Lady, you don’t look so good. Here get in and I’ll take you to the hospital. I was headed there anyway.” He reached over and pushed the passenger side door open.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it, are you visiting someone there?”

“Wha . . . oh . . . no,” he was staring at my eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they looked like right now. I was in desperate need of blood, which usually turned them from emerald green to black. “I’m a doctor, I was on my way to work -- you know it’s hard to tell in the dark, but your pupils look blown, both eyes are completely dilated.”

“All the better to see you with my dear . . .” I muttered under my breath.

“Excuse me, I didn’t quite catch that.”

“Nothing, do you think we can get going, I should probably get checked out, don’t you think?”

“Oh! Yeah. Right.” The way the car was sputtering, I hoped we’d make it there.

“What kind of doctor are you exactly. I mean you seem awfully young.”

“I know. I get that a lot. I’m actually a resident in the E.R. one of the residents was murdered a few months ago, so I got her spot. Cool huh?”
This was my replacement!

“Yeah, cool.”

I was having a hard time blocking out the sound of his heart beating, the constant thump-thump, thump-thump seemed to be beating along with the sound of the clanking engine. It was like the weaker the rest of me got the stronger my sense of smell and hearing. This guy reeked of tobacco and stale coffee, but at least he had taken a shower not long ago. My eyes were instinctively drawn to his throat where I could see his pulse beating steadily and strong. Without warning my fangs shot from my mouth and I jerked trying to hide them.

“Are you okay?”

His concern was evident in his voice, and even though he was a bit immature for his own good he did have good intentions in wanting to help me.

I put my hand on my forehead and leaned over, “I’m alright, just a little nauseous, I threw up earlier too, do you think it could be bad?” 

“What? Yeah it’s bad, you have a head injury, and dude you can’t throw up in my brother
’
s car, he’ll kill me!”
Dude? They seriously hired this guy?

He pulled onto a side street, and thankfully there wasn’t much in the way of traffic. Once he had completely stopped the car and put it in park, I sat up and looked at him.

“I really appreciate you stopping to give me a ride tonight.”

“Oh . . . Uh . . . No, problem.”

I leaned over and pulled him into a hug, “not many men would do that nowadays. There’s just one more thing I need from you,” I said whispering in his ear.

“What’s that?”

“This,
” I said as I sunk my fangs deep into his jugular.

His blood poured freely into me, filling me up. I could feel his strength instantly becoming mine, I felt powerful again; it was intoxicating, and I didn’t want the feeling to end. An image of William flashed before my eyes, and gave me pause. I had seen my victim
’
s past before, but this image was all my own. The first time I had fed on someone, I killed him. Since then William ha
d
gone hunting with me whenever I needed it. He kept me grounded, he kept me from killing anyone or doing something I’d later regret.

I slowed my pull on the man’s throat and gave it a lick to help with the healing. I didn’t kill him, but I had taken enough that he passed out. I leaned back against the door and almost fell out when the thing went flying open.

“Damn it! Stupid piece of junk car.”

I almost did it again, I almost killed someone.

“But I didn’t, and I need to get to Christian.”

I climbed out of the Honda, amazed at how much different I always felt after feeding. My vision was amazingly sharpened again, I could see clearly to the end of the street. I know if I needed to I could throw the Honda or scale the side of a building, I felt utterly invincible. I looked at my would-be rescuer and couldn’t just leave him here, who knew what might happen to him. I leaned into the car and pulled him into the passenger seat, buckling him in.

I then slid behind the wheel and took off for the hospital, driving this old clunker really made me miss William's Audi R8, man could that baby fly.

“Stop thinking about Will, he’s the enemy. He betrayed you.”

Maybe if I talked to myself enough, I would start to listen. I pulled into the emergency parking lot and then shuffled around in the back. I found an old Cubbies hat stuffed under the seat, it was a little dirty, but not bad. I quickly re-braided my hair, put my jacket on, and pulled the cap on low hoping to cover as much of my face as possible. I left the keys in the ignition, with the engine off, and headed for the ER entrance.

This was so stupidly risky, coming back here, but this was where Christian most likely was; and I had to get to him before anyone else did. 

It was just like I remembered it; loud, chaotic, full of people and I missed every second of it. I stopped in front of
 
the doors taking it all in, there was a man off to the side arguing with the security guard, he was telling him that one of the nurses had stolen his wallet, a mom was trying to console her crying baby while a toddler was banging a toy car into the patient sitting next to her, there was an older woman yelling at a nurse about not being able to wait because she can't drive after dark. It went on, and on. I was hit from behind as someone coming
 
through the doors didn't see me
 
or didn't care that I was standing there; either way it jolted me out of my reverie and I made my way over to the triage desk.

“Look Ma’am, you have to wait your turn." It took me a second to
 
realize the nurse was talking to me because she wasn't
 
looking at anyone in particular as she said it.

   
"What? Oh, I’m not here to be seen, I just wanted--"

"Next!"

"Excuse me, I was trying to tell you something."

"If you aren't here to be seen then I can't help you, if you
 
are, get in line. Next!"

I slammed my hand on the counter and leaned in gathering her full attention, "Listen lady, I am not here to be seen. I
 
am
 
here to tell you one of your doctors is
 
passed out in his car as we speak suffering from severe blood loss, and unless you want to join him, lose the damn attitude. Understood?"

She swallowed audibly and nodded.
 
"Good, now I suggest you find someone to go help him."

I left the nurse at the desk and continued on my way through the ER and found the main entrance of the hospital.
 
There was a volunteer sitting at the front desk, a young girl of about 16 or so, luckily no one I knew.

"Hi, I'm trying to find a patie
nt in the hospital. His name is
--"

"I'm sorry visiting hours are over" she said
 
cutting me off,
 
turning the pages of her magazine.

"I understand, but if you can tell
 
me his room number, then I'll have it when I stop by tomorrow." I gave her my best motherly smile.

"We can only give out that information to family members. Are you related to the patient?" she asked while snapping her gum at me.

"Yes, I'm his mot--his God-Mother I mean."

If they knew who he was, then they would know his mother was dead, or was supposed to be at least. After Ana turned me we faked my death in order to protect my family from the Council coming after them. What I didn't know at the time was William and Ana were both part of the
 
same Council I was fighting to protect them from.

"If you're family, why don't you just call him yourself?"

It took every ounce of restraint I had not to reach over the counter and strangle
this
 
girl with her own ponytail.
I wanted to break her neck, was everyone in this hospital this rude when I worked here? I had had enough, the reason
 
Nathaniel had wanted me so badly was because of my ability to use compulsion; it was what had allowed me to
 
restrain him while William staked him.
Surely
 
if I could compel a 400-
year-old master
 
vampire I could
 
use it on a 16-
year-old bratty teenager as well.

"Excuse me, what
 
did you say your name was again?" I asked while pulling my power to the tip of my psyche. It felt like holding onto a lightning bolt, utterly impossible, but once you do it, you can’t let go.

"Sarah, why?" she asked looking into my eyes.

"Sarah, I want you to look up what room number Christian Lucio is in, now."

"Okay." She began typing away without the smallest hint of
 
resistance.

"He's in room 402."

"Thank you. Now I want you to be polite to everyone else that
 
comes in here, and you won't have any memory of my ever being here. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Good, I release you."

I fled from her before she had a chance to see me standing before her.

I took the elevator to the fourth floor, before stepping out I stopped to listen for the sound of anyone standing out in the hallway. I didn't want
 
to be caught off guard by anyone I knew, or worse,
my husband
Antonio.
 
When I didn't hear anyone walking the hallway or talking at the nurses’ station, I started making my way to Christian's room. I found it a little ways down the hall and to the left, with its door shut and the lights off. I could tell he was alone, by the sound of
 
the single heart beating from the other side of the door. I slid into the room before anyone had a chance to notice me. Christian was asleep in the bed, and hooked up to the monitor through various wires. He had an I.V. in his hand and the stitches Ana had put in his left arm were still in place. He was covered with bruises on his face, arms, and pretty much everywhere that was visible. I was sure there were more I couldn't see as well.
 

He had been taken hostage, and in our attempt to rescue him we literally tore apart a building; bringing it down on us. Christian took the brunt of it, and Ana and I performed some field surgery saving his life, but the point remained he would never have been there if it hadn't been because of me. I couldn't handle seeing him like this, and I didn't want to disturb him so I went to look out the window at the city below us. Standing here, in the hospital I used to work at, next to my son, made me miss my old life all over again. I was afraid of what was coming next, and I really didn't know if I could compel Christian or not; despite what I told William. Another vampire had already tried
to compel him
, and failed.

"Oh, Christian," I sighed "what are we going to do?"

"Mom, it really is you," I looked over to see Christian staring at me. He didn't
 
appear scared like I thought he would be, "I thought I was dreaming."

"No, not dreaming. Though, it would make all of this a lot easier. How are you feeling?"

I came over to sit next to him, taking his hand in mine, and bracing myself in case he flinched away from me. Instead he leaned over and tried to put his arms around me, becoming trapped in his wires and I.V. tubing.

"Here, let me help." I leaned over and pulled him into as tight a hug as I thought he could handle. If felt so good to hold him again, to have this moment, even if it was fleeting to feel like his mom again. To know he wasn't afraid of me for becoming a monster made all of my fears lift away like a heavy fog. I knew we could find our way through this.

"I've missed you so much, we all have. Why did you leave us? We thought you were dead!" He asked me crying, squeezing me harder.

"Christian, look at me," I pulled back so I could look him in the eye.

"I am only going to tell you this once so you had better listen. Got it? I did not leave you. You three are my heart, my whole heart, Christian. You know you can't live without your heart. I had no choice. I tried to get to you guys." I held his face in my hands just like I used to when he was little, and I wanted to make sure he was seeing the truth of my words.

"Do you get it Christian? I never left you."

“I get it. I told Evan you never left us,” he said wiping his eyes, trying to hide the tears.

“I know babe, you’ve been great to him since this all happened.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, just because I couldn’t let you know about me doesn’t mean I was going to abandon you. I still watch over you guys, and I do not appreciate you sneaking out at night. I will find a way to let your Dad know if it happens again. Do you understand me?”

“I knew it! I thought I felt someone outside
my window. Seriously M
om, peeping-tom is not cool” he said laughing. “Besides, Dad is not going to let me out of his sight after this. He’s making me get a job and everything to ‘occupy my time’, ugh, it totally blows.”

“Well it’ll probably be good for you anyway.”

There was a short silence where we just took each other in, he seemed to be noticing the changes in me for the first time; my skin was paler and smoother than before, my eyes greener, my hair shinier. It was all covered under a layer of dirt right now, but if you had been looking at me your entire life; you’d notice. I could notice the small changes in him too, maybe it was because of my enhanced eyesight but he seemed older all of a sudden.

“You’ve changed,” I told him.

“I was going to say the same thing about you. So, can I see em’?”

“See what?” I asked narrowing my eyes at him.

“You know, your fangs” he said in a hushed whisper as if he was suddenly afraid one of the nurses might overhear us.

I started seeing flashes of Christian pressing himself into the wall at the abandoned fire station, and cowering away from Ana and Victoria while they were thrashing and clawing at one another. He had been terrified no matter how much bravado he was putting on display right now. The thought of him being exposed to that, any of it, was making my blood boil in anger.

“Absolutely not.”

I got up from his bed folding my arms across my chest; I started pacing his small room.

“Did Victoria or Nathaniel show you their fangs? Did they do anything to hurt you?” I stopped pacing and turned to face him. I was sure my eyes were becoming ringed in black, but there wasn’t anything I could do to help it. I was pissed.

“What? No, Ma! I had no idea what they were until your friend came in flashing fang. Yeah it scared the crap outta me and I want nothing to do with Victoria anymore, but I still think it’s pretty cool what you guys did. You saved me, you totally kicked that old dude
’
s A--, I mean butt.”

“Yeah, we saved you, and almost killed you in the process! Christian, I’m so sorry love. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.” I came back over to sit next to him.

“You mean you didn’t plan for the roof to collapse all around us, and to land right on top of me? Huh? I thought that
was the plan all along. C’mon M
om even with as clumsy as you are you can’t blame yourself for that one. I saw quite a few vamps banging the place up.”

“Yeah, I guess. I just feel so bad that you’re here…”

“Hey! I bet you aren’t clumsy now that you’re a vamp an all. That’s so cool, no more running into door jams and stuff, that’s gotta be cool right?” He was trying to make me feel better, but I was about to make him feel better.

“Well . . .”

He clutched his side laughing, “No way? Seriously! Does this like make you the only clumsy vamp ever or is the graceful and silent supposed to be myth?” Tears were running down his face he was laughing so hard.

“Christian! Be quite! Someone is going to hear you, and come in here; I need to talk to you about something.”

He slowly calmed his laughing and had to clutch his ribs where they were broken. His breathing was starting to become a little ragged.

“I’ll leave you alone soon babe, you need to rest.”

“No, Mom I’m fine. I want you to stay; you have no idea how happy I am you’re still alive. Dad and Evan are going to lose it they’ll be so happy.”

“Christian, that’s what I need to talk to you about.”

“Don’t tell them until I can be there, I want to see their faces okay. Oh! You can come back tomorrow and--”

“Christian, stop! Please.”

I had to close my eyes to stop the anguish from spilling over. What he was saying, the happiness he knew my coming home would bring. I wanted it so badly, but I couldn’t have it. None of us could, if I went home again, The Council would see to it that all of us were killed, or worse. Yes, I now believed there were worse things than death. I took a slow deep breath, one that was unnecessary for life, as I didn’t breathe anymore. But it might help calm my nerves as I felt my heart being torn in two at what I was about to do to my own son. I was just beginning to come to terms with having my own life stolen from me, and with it my family. Now, not only was I was about to experience that loss all over again, but I was going to put my son through it as well.

“I need to talk to you Christian, it’s extremely important.”

He nodded that he understood, still not releasing his hold on me, as I began to finally tell my story. "I was attacked after work--violently--just like the police described. Except instead of dying like everyone thought, I was turned into a vampire. I tried to get back to you guys, I fought for it, but I was told if I let any of you, any human for that matter, know what I now am they would kill you.

Dad and Evan can’t know about me, and before you interrupt, let me explain. I was turned by someone I worked with, I didn’t know her, and I had only seen her a few times before I figured out what she really was.  She was sent to kill me the night I disappeared because of my discovery, but ended up turning me instead.”

“The cops said they found
so much
of your blood that
there was no way you could
have survived.”

“And I wouldn’t have, except at the last instant she had a change of heart and turned me. Once I woke and I had gotten a small hold on myself I tried to go to you guys, but they said I would kill you without meaning to. I tried to go to you later, and they told me about vampire law, this Council, the same one ordered her to kill me. According to their laws if any human discovers a vampire’s existence that human is turned, killed or enslaved. The judgment is performed by the faulty vampire.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means this Council can try to force me into doing any one of these things to you guys if I were to let you know I was a vampire. If I refuse their judgment, they’ll kill us all. Do you understand why I can’t let Dad and Evan know about me?”

“Well we were pretty much your slaves before, I mean can’t we just vote for that one?”

“Christian, this isn’t a joke! I faked my death, risking not only my life, but the lives of others in the process to give you three closure. I hunted down and killed a Master Vampire to keep you safe. I will not let anything, including myself
,
endanger any of your lives anymore.”

“Mom, this isn’t right! They deserve to know!”

“No, Christian. I’m sorry. I want nothing more in this world than to be with all of you again, you are my life, but I won’t make you pack up and run. I won’t live always waiting for the attack to come, and it will. You deserve to live a full, happy life. You all do.”

“What about you? You deserve to be happy don’t you?”

“I’ll always be watching over you three
,
Christian, I will never really leave you.”

“Where does this leave me? Why are you here if I’m not supposed to know about you either? What’s going to happen?” His voice was starting to sound panicky, he was becoming scared which meant I’d gotten through to him on some level at least.

“Well now I’m going to make you forget everything I just told you.”

“What? How is that even possible?”

“I have no clue, but it’s how we were able to defeat Nathaniel when he kidnapped you. I have the ability to compel both humans and vampires into doing whatever I want. It shouldn’t be possible for me to do it. I’m also immune from being able to have it done to me.”

“That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, well I’m not so sure it’ll work on you. Victoria tried to compel you the night of the fight and couldn’t. It’s why Nathaniel wanted both of us so badly; he thought we’d make great weapons. He thought if he turned you you’d be able to compel other vampires into doing whatever he wanted.”

Christian laid back on his pillow taking everything in. It was a lot to process and he was doing extremely well. I figured this was as good a time as any, and it was more likely to work if he wasn’t aware of what I was doing. I called all of my energy to the forefront of my psyche, I didn’t want to risk not using enough strength and assume that’s why it didn’t work. There was a crackling of energy in the air, it felt almost tangible. Christian started to look around the room, almost like he was trying to see if someone was there. As a human he shouldn’t be able to notice anything at all, this was certainly interesting.

“Christian.”

“Yeah?” He looked over at me
,
incredibly tired, the bags under his eyes seemed more pronounced, his voice held a fatigue that wasn’t there earlier
.
I needed to get him to bed.

“I need you to forget everything about tonight. You went to bed, and when you wake up you won’t remember anything. Do you understand?”

“Are you saying I should tell them that when Dad comes in or if some pale dude comes around asking questions?”

This didn’t seem to be working, maybe I needed to phrase it differently or start at the beginning?

“Christian, you will forget ever meeting Victoria or Nathaniel.”

“Seriously Mom, I already told you I don't want anything else to do with her anymore.”

Okay . . . maybe it’s just the memory I can’t affect. Maybe I can make him do the physical.

“Christian. Lift your right--”