Chapter Twelve
Burnt Pages
W
hen Jules arrived home late that night, Monica was already there waiting on her. “I know, I’m sorry. Work ran late,” Jules said as she entered the lighted house.
“It’s fine.” Monica was stretched out across the couch, an empty pizza box, dirty napkins, and two glasses littered the coffee table. “Seth just left. So, it’s seriously fine.” Monica winked.
Jules made an exasperated-sounding sigh as she passed through the living room on her way to her bedroom. She wanted to change out of her work clothes. Monica bounced off the couch and followed her. Jules slipped off the slacks and cardigan and into a pair of shorts and a tank top as Monica plopped down on her bed. “So, spill,” Monica demanded.
“Spill what?” Jules asked, feigning innocence. Secretly, Jules had been hoping that Monica would forget about the odd moment earlier concerning Luca.
“Don’t play dumb. It won’t work.”
“Monica,” Jules began.
“Don’t Monica me!” she nearly shouted as she sat up into a cross-legged position. “Why won’t you just tell me what you’re hiding?”
“It’s not my secret to tell,” Jules told her. “Not all of it anyway,” she added, sprawling across her bed beside Monica.
“Then tell me the part that is yours.”
Jules threw her hands over her face and groaned. She could do it. She knew that she could trust Monica; there was no doubt about that. Still, she hesitated because telling Monica meant that it was no longer just a secret she and Luca alone shared.
“Juliana Bristow,” Monica said sternly, “am I your best friend or not?”
“Fine.” Jules dropped her hands back onto the bed and rolled over on her elbow, facing Monica. “I’ve been seeing Luca.”
Monica shrieked. “I knew it. You had so much chemistry that night. I can’t wait to tell Seth.”
“No.” Jules sat up, a little startled. “Monica, you can’t tell anyone. Not your parents, not Seth… especially not Seth. It has to be our secret.”
“But why?” Monica almost whined. “It’s just Seth.”
Jules slid into a sitting position. “That’s the part that I can’t tell you,” Jules admitted. “I’m sorry Monica. But please, no one can know.”
Monica pressed her lips together, considering for a moment. “Alright,” she said finally. “The best friend over boyfriend code will be honored,” Monica said with a teasing tone. “But you have to at least tell me one thing.” The look on Monica’s face was mischievous at first but then turned genuine. “Are you happy?”
Jules sighed, but then a ridiculously wide smile spread across her face. “So very happy,” Jules almost gushed. “I told him I loved him. I can’t believe I said that. That’s the first time I’ve said it romantically in…”
“About three-hundred years.” Monica finished her statement for her. “You do know that you’ve known him for less than a week?”
“That’s crazy right?” Jules asked. “I think I’m going completely insane.”
“You could do with a little crazy now and then.”
Jules covered her face again. She knew she must sound like a love-sick fool, but she didn’t care. Loving Luca was worth it.
Monica laughed and crawled closer. She put her arms around Jules in a hug. Jules accepted for a moment until her mouth got too close to Monica’s neck. She could see the vein pulse under the skin. Warm, flowing… Jules wrenched herself free of Monica and was on the far side of the room in an instant. She pressed her palms against the wall to keep her there and then slid down it. “I’m so sorry.” She whimpered.
“How long has it been?” Monica asked, sounding a little shaken, but not nearly as shaken as she should.
“Too long.” Jules’s head dropped between her knees. She held the breaths that she didn’t really need anyway. “Gabriel and I worked on carnival prep through lunch.”
“Hang on,” Monica got off the bed and left the room. Jules knew where she was going. She hated that Monica knew what to do in these situations, but she was grateful for it.
Jules’s head shot up when Monica reappeared.
“You’re out of blood.” Monica stopped in the doorway.
Jules stared, wide-eyed at Monica. And then she remembered it was true. She’d drank her entire home supply after her unplanned beach day with Luca. The blood she’d consumed that night should have lasted her another three weeks.
She knew that Gabriel had some at home and she still had some at the school, but why hadn’t she brought some home with her?
She couldn’t wait until morning, and she couldn’t stay here. If she stayed, Monica could end up dead. Even if she would drink from Monica, which she would not, she didn’t trust herself to stop feeding once she started. She didn’t explain or even speak before she bolting passed Monica and out her front door. She left her car in the driveway and ran.
LUCA
Luca woke abruptly to the sounds of shouts and slamming doors. I need a new place to live, he thought to himself. He then pulled himself into a sitting position and shook his head just as his bedroom door burst opened, slamming against the wall behind it.
“Luca, let’s go!” Ben instructed from the doorway. “Now!” he added when Luca didn’t immediately hop out of bed.
“Okay,” Luca griped but began to do as instructed. “Couldn’t whatever this is have waited until morning?” Luca muttered to himself grumpily as he stood. He stretched noisily and headed toward the commotion.
“What’s all this about?” he asked Kip, whom he met at the top of the stairway.
“Something big, I gather,” he said, springing down the stairs ahead of Luca.
Luca yawned, following at his own drowsy pace.
The pack had gathered on the back porch. This was unusual, but Luca figured it was due to the houseguests, now unavoidably awake in the living room.
Swinging the screen door open, he joined the others. To his surprise, Kyle was among them. “What are you doing here?” he whispered to his friend.
“I was once again summoned, so here I am?” Kyle said quietly, but with a subtle amount of annoyance in his voice.
Luca yawned.
Neither of them were concentrating on Carson’s intense, hushed tones until Luca heard something that yanked his focus to his Alpha’s overly excited speech.
“What did he just say?” Luca asked Kyle, who shrugged.
“This means that thanks to Jed’s stake-out, we know where the vampire is at this exact moment. So now, the time has come,” Carson said, balling his hands into fists. “Tonight, we end the demon for good!”
JULIANA
Jules hadn’t slowed her pace until she’d gotten far enough away from Monica, and all other human life, to be safe. When she’d walked across the school’s parking lot, she had noted a few abandoned cars but had given them little attention. She assumed tired or drunk students would retrieve them in the morning. She didn’t have her keys, in fact, she’d left everything at home. She knew she should change her mind and go to Gabriel’s to get some blood, but she didn’t want to have to explain to him why she’d run out in the first place.
She decided that she was too close to the stock she kept at work to go back. If she changed course now, she’d have to go back through town. It’s was too much of a risk. Breaking and entering was the lesser evil than accidentally murdering a townsperson. So, Jules ran at full speed toward her place of work. She jumped up the side of the building, grabbed onto the ledge, and pulled herself over.
The roof was littered with years of old beer bottles and half-smoked cigarettes. She walked to the small skylight over the cafeteria and loosened its bolts. “Ouch,” she cried aloud when she cut her finger on the last bolt. She sucked on the cut momentarily and then lifted the window off. Slowly, she lowered herself over the edge feet first and dropped soundlessly onto one of the long tables below.
She knew which passages she could use and still avoid the security cameras and she did so with as much haste as she could without being recorded. After a few long minutes, she’d reached the far side of the school, and the library. Once inside, she rushed through the stacks to her office. Her hand went to her neck to retrieve the key to her refrigerator. “Seriously.” It wasn’t there. In desperation, Jules yanked the padlock off the small, white door and opened it. She bypassed the glass and ripped the bag open with her teeth. With every gulp, she felt her desire to kill her best human friend dissipate. She had control again. Only after she’d drank the entire bag did she realize that she was being watched.
A pair of dark eyes stared at her through the outside window, and he was snarling. Jules recognized the Alpha of Luca’s pack instantly. Unsure of what his next move would be, she waited.
He raised his face to the sky and let out a long, deafening howl. She recognized this call, it was a call to battle.
Jules spun, preparing to run, but found the door to her office blocked by two other members of Luca’s pack. They stood panting and snarling at her. “Your time is over, Demon,” the shorter of the two said. He twitched, betraying his nerves.
A threatening hiss pulsed through her throat and the twitching wolf ran at her, bouncing wildly as he did so. Jules evaded his attack easily. She spun, grabbed him, and threw him as hard as she could. With a loud crash, her desk broke under his weight. He lay, unmoving, on the office floor. She turned on the taller wolf, who had been lounging against the doorframe looking more at ease than his companion. He was the largest wolf she’d ever seen. Near Luca’s height, but much bulkier.
Jules’s confidence waned, defeating him would not be as easy. She went for a round kick, but he was surprisingly fast and even stronger then Jules had anticipated. He took her kick square in the stomach, grabbed hold of her foot, and swung her hard against the wall. It cracked under her impact. She dropped to the ground but rolled to standing, barely feeling the impact’s effects.
Just as she got to her feet, however, he came at her again. This time, she was able to bolt a few feet out of his path. She was hoping that his speed would cause him to hit the wall hard, but for a man of his size, he was quite graceful in his movements. Not lumbering as Jules had expected. Which is unfortunate, she thought to herself. He navigated a turn easily and they were now facing off once again.
Just then, a groan sounded from the wolf still on the floor. Instinctively, Jules glanced sideways at him but only for a fraction of a second. It was long enough. She was convinced that the wolf was still satisfactorily incapacitated.
“Sorry about your friend,” Jules commented, trying to buy herself time to come up with a plan.
“Not really a friend,” the big wolf said with a shrug.
Jules took the moment his response time allowed and picked up one of her file cabinets. Launching it across the office, she hit the wolf in the face, knocking him backward. Both the cabinet and the wolf landed hard against the wall and she bolted toward the office door. But the wolf recovered too quickly. He stood and caught her arm as she passed him. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second. His eyes began to glow wolf yellow and his huge hand clamped down hard on her neck. He sneered at her and lifted her off her feet by the throat. After a few long seconds, her body went flying backward.
Jules felt this impact. The glass of her large internal office window shattered as she flew through it and hit the bookshelf just outside the office hard. She landed on the floor with a thud, glass shards digging into her back and books raining down on her head.
She laid there, stunned, for a fraction of a second. She knew she had to get moving or she might end up dead. She tried to stand but cried out when the glass embedded itself deeper into her back as she shifted. Involuntarily, she dropped back to her knees.
Just then, Jules smelled gasoline. The friend that Luca had been with at the carnival was dumping it around the perimeter of the room and on all of the books. Why didn’t Luca warn me? She knew this was a completely irrational time to be thinking about him, but still, the question grabbed hold of her mind as she again tried to stand. She failed, collapsing to the glass ridden floor again.
A pair of large boots stopped in front of her and the Alpha crouched next to her, his face coming into focus. “You’re going to die tonight.” It didn’t sound like a threat, but a promise. Then one of his large hands came to rest on the back of her head. He caressed it for a moment. Instead of delivering a fatal blow, however, Carson grabbed Jules harshly. The glass in her back twisted inside her skin as he and the big wolf, who had apparently just joined them, made her stand. “Nice job Kip,” the Alpha congratulated the big wolf who had defeated her.
“The job’s not done yet,” Jules spat. The Alpha had made his first mistake. If he wanted her dead, he should have killed her while she was still on the floor. Jules lashed out, her nails creating long scratches across the Alpha’s snarl. She could have gotten away in the fleeting moments he was distracted but Kip grabbed her and held her against him, his beefy arms clamping tightly around her. Jules got a small amount of satisfaction when the wolf groaned as the glass still embedded in her back cut into the flesh of his abdomen.
As she struggled against the tight hold, the Alpha’s hand connected with her jaw. She would have fallen if she hadn’t been trapped between Kip’s arms. Jules turned back toward him and spat blood in Carson’s face. The Alpha’s fist connected with her ribcage. She felt a few ribs crack under the impact.
“Carson,” a wolf called, and Carson walked a few paces away to meet the newcomer.
Jules struggled to free herself. If she didn’t get away now, this might actually be how her long existence would end. Before she could manage to wriggle free, the newly arrived wolf joined Kip in restraining her.
“Were you able to erase the security footage?” Carson asked the new wolf as he plugged something into the wall and approached them.
“Just like the alarms, it wasn’t a problem,” he responded calmly.
“Excellent,” Carson said as he lifted the object in his hands and turned the switch. The UVB light flicked on and the scalding rays stung her eyes.
So that was his plan. He was going to burn her alive. Without whimpering, Jules struggled against the two men who were holding her in place. She knew what came next. Jules wanted to beg for her life, but she never would. She’d live, or she would not. But she knew her immortal life would not be spared by begging for it.
“You should have left town when I told you too,” Carson growled, waving the light back and forth in front of her face.
“Do it!” Jules shouted. The taunting had gone on long enough.
With that, Carson placed the bulb on Jules’s chest and pressed down slightly. She cried out involuntarily as her flesh started to burn. The pain was like nothing Jules had experienced before. No physical pain she knew of was its equal. Just as she felt the skin directly under the light begin to melt away, Carson pulled the light back. Jules trembled. Carson looked down at the angry red burn, undoubtedly an open wound now.
“That’s disgusting,” Kip said from behind her.
“Why torture her?” Luca’s friend said as he approached. Apparently pouring gasoline on every inch of the library was sufficient. “Why not just kill her?” This wolf sounded different from the others, less jovial.
“Where is the fun in that?” Carson said, a dark desire in his yellowed eyes.
“Kyle’s right Carson, protecting Aboit doesn’t mean we have to torture people, even if they are already dead,” Kip said from behind Jules, still restraining her. “And the whole, melting her skin off thing is just gross,” he added, sounding a little like he might be trying to lighten the mood.
How absurd, Jules thought but said, “I agree with the big one.” Jules found that with this short reprieve she was regaining some of her determination, despite the pain.
“Kyle, where is Luca?” The other wolf that was holding her in place inquired.
Jules didn’t catch his reply, for Carson had touched the bulb to her skin again, in the middle of her forehead this time. She screamed as he began to drag it slowly down one side of her face. The searing pain made Jules weak on her feet. The large wolf took her weight. The smell of burnt flesh made Carson wrinkle his nose as he laughed maniacally. Jules knew that he was enjoying watching her suffer. The question was, why?
“Seriously Carson, you don’t have to do this,” Kyle said, standing tall.
Carson growled. “Kyle, that will be quite enough, get back to your post,” he ordered.
The wolf strained under the order in defiance, but after all to brief a moment, did as he was told.
Weak, but not weak enough to give up the fight, Jules used this distraction to elbow the big wolf in the ribcage. She kicked the other in the back of the knee and he went down hard. This would have been her best chance to escape if the first wolf she’d knocked out hadn’t regained consciousness. As the others’ hold faltered, he grabbed her around the neck and slammed her into the wall. The glass in her back penetrated farther. The pressure on her neck was harsh, but he couldn’t exactly choke her, she didn’t have to breathe. Her hands came to his wrists. She squeezed hard, probably breaking at least one of them.
“You idiot,” Carson shouted. He shoved the energetic wolf out of the way and kicked Jules hard in the leg. She dropped to both knees, pain shooting up and down the left side of her body. He was about to kick her again when someone shouted.
“Everybody get out!”
The shout made Jules look toward the door of the library. A wolf stood in the entrance holding up a lighter, flame blazing.
“Luca,” Jules said, astonished.
He didn’t meet her gaze. He refused to look at her at all. He did know about this. He was a part of this pack and this attack. Her heart broke. Even if he had been using her, she loved him. She’d opened her heart again, that was her choice, this pain was on her.
“Luca don’t…” Carson began to shout but it was too late. Luca tossed the lighter down onto the gasoline-soaked floor. The room around them erupted into flames. The pages of the books blackened and curled, feeding the fire. As the smoke built, the wolves released her and rushed from the library. Luca slammed the door behind them, locking her inside the inferno.
When the wolves had let her go and ran for safety, Jules was left kneeling on the floor. The pain of Luca’s betrayal felt equal to the cuts and burnt flesh.
Sitting there, next to her office, Jules could hear the Alpha snicker as he watched the blaze close in on her. Everything was burning. The flames were rising higher by the second. If she stayed much longer, she would most certainly die. All at once, the snickering stopped and a great howl ripped through the air. More howls followed.
She wouldn’t let this be her end. Not while she still had a minute chance. With every last ounce of strength she could muster, she pulled herself to her feet. Her hand gripped the broken window frame, glass cutting into it as she stood. She glanced back toward the werewolves, all still congregated around the doorway. She took one step toward the far wall and then another. She stood a moment, calculating the distance.
“Wait!” Carson shouted. “This can’t happen!” Luca and Kyle grabbed onto Carson, keeping him from entering the fire-filled room.
Jules didn’t wait for the Alpha to over-rule them. This was her only chance. Jules ran through the fire and launched herself through the wall of glass opposite them. Cuts from this glass were added to her chest and face. Oxygen wafting into the burning room caused an explosion. Jules escaped in the chaos. Smoke from the library followed her path.
She was completely exposed as she ran down the hall, but she had to try. She knew they’d follow her. She knew she had little hope of escaping them, but she wasn’t ready to give up.
Jules could hear several four-legged beings pursuing her now. They were much faster in this form and she was running much slower than she normally could. Jules pulled one of the trophy cases away from the wall. It shattered, obscuring their path. A wolf yelped.
Jules didn’t slow her pace. She ran down two more hallways and burst through the doors at the top of the auditorium. She hit the lights, blackening the room, and slid the lock in place on the door. She skipped several of the steps as she ran down toward the stage but froze halfway down. A set of yellow, wolf eyes glowed from the right side of the stage. She took one step backward, intent on leaving the auditorium until she heard several sets of pattering paws on the other side of the double doors.
She turned back to the stage but the wolf that had been there was gone. Facing one was better than facing them all together. Jules sprinted the rest of the way to the stage and jumped up onto it with a grunt. She fumbled on her most injured leg but, kept the cry of pain silent. With more effort than she truly had the strength for, she ran for the left of the stage where there was a back door to the school.
Before she could reach it, large hands grabbed her. A muscled arm wrapped around her waist pulling her off her feet, while his other hand clamped over her mouth.
She fought against his hold on her. She didn’t want it to end like this.
“Jules stop,” Luca whispered in her ear. “It’s me.”
She considered biting the hand clamped over her mouth, but it didn’t matter how betrayed and used she felt. It didn’t matter if he handed her over to his Alpha now. She didn’t want to kill him. She did, however, kick him in the shin. Forcing him to release her. She spun and shoved him hard in the stomach, making him stumble backward. She needed to run, she needed to keep running, and yet, she had so little strength left.
Jules stumbled backward. Luca reached out as if to steady her. “Don’t touch me.” She spat the words. She’d had enough of werewolves tonight.
“Jules?” Luca looked down at her questioningly.
“You tried to burn me alive.” Her tone was harsh but not loud. There was no sense in helping the rest of the wolves find them sooner.
“I had to...” Luca’s explanation was cut short at the sound of the doors to the auditorium being broken open. Luca’s eyes began to glow the soft yellow of a werewolf about to transform.
Before she could protest, Luca had grabbed her again and pulled both of them behind a long curtain. His grip was looser this time. It was gentle. He didn’t release her. His arm came to rest around the front of her neck, on top of her shoulders. Footsteps and sniffing confirmed that at least three wolves had entered the auditorium.
Jules leaned forward, peaking around their velvet hiding place. One wolf had stopped as he reached the stage. Nose in the air, he was sniffing around him. Luca pulled her back and his grip tightened a little. If they ran, they’d be heard. If they stayed, they’d be found.
A wolf on four paws stepped around the curtain. He zeroed in on Jules, lowered his head, and growled quietly.
“Kyle!” Luca’s whisper was nearly silent, pleading.
The wolf’s gaze shifted from Jules to his Beta. In one swift movement, Luca swung Jules behind him, putting himself between her and his friend. Jules grabbed his waist to steady herself and keep from hitting the wall next to them. “Please, don’t.”
Kyle looked at them a moment longer and then lifted his snout and howled. Another howl answered it and Kyle bolted away.
For the next several moments, neither of them moved. Then, before she knew what was happening Jules was enveloped in Luca’s arms, shoulders, and chest. She hurt everywhere but didn’t resist the affection. Jules felt her consciousness slipping. She could still die from her injuries. She clung to Luca, trying to anchor herself to the living. She focused on the sound of his pounding heartbeat, the tickle of his hot breath in her ear, the feel of his body covering hers. “They’ll stop looking,” he whispered. “Give them a minute.”
After several more long moments, Luca moved first, looking over his shoulder as the sounds of the aggravated wolf pack began to be more distant. Luca let out a quiet sigh. Releasing her, he walked to the edge of their hiding place. “They’re gone,” he said in a hushed tone.
Jules let out a breath and began panting quietly. She was out of breath, she hadn’t been out of breath in four hundred years. Jules knew it was her mind playing tricks on her; telling her that her adrenaline was dropping. She tried to speak but she couldn’t make her voice audible.
Luca walked back over to her and placed one finger under her chin. Jules lifted her head, her hair dropping away from her face. She heard him suck air in through his teeth, cringing. “I’m sorry,” he said.
His pack had done this to her. As their eyes met, she saw guilt in his. Jules did not respond verbally but pulled closer to him, hugging him around the waist. His hand rested on her hair softly, the other touched her back and she cried out accidentally.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again. “Can you walk?” Luca asked. “We should get you out of here.” Luca stepped back, offering her his hand. She took it and attempted to take a few steps forward. Pain ripped through every part of her. What little awareness she had left in her fled and she fell. Luca’s strong arms caught her, lifting her back off her feet. Glass dug into her back and his arm where he held her, but she couldn’t cry out and he didn’t. Her consciousness waned.
“Jules!” Luca said quietly, shaking her a little.
“Luc…” she mumbled and then her head fell against him.