Chapter Five
Date with the Enemy
A
s both girls entered through the front door of her family’s home, Monica shouted, “I’m home!”
Normally, human residences were impossible for Jules to enter. This house was the exception; at the Martins’ Jules had a standing invitation.
“Hello girls,” Monica’s mother, Sherri, said as she exited the kitchen.
“Hi,” they said in unison.
“Are you staying for dinner, Jules, dear?” Sherri asked.
“Yes…” Monica started.
“Um… no,” Jules cut her off. “I’d better not.”
“You’re staying.” Monica rolled her eyes. “We need to pick out dresses for our date tomorrow,” Monica told her mother.
“Oh well, then you better get started. With your indecisiveness, you never know how long that will take,” Sherri teased.
Jules laughed with her while Monica scowled. “Oh, come on,” Monica said, taking Jules by the arm and pulling her down the hall to her bedroom.
“So, do you know where Seth is taking us?” Jules asked, perching on the end of Monica’s bed.
“No.” Monica walked to her closet and started pulling out dress after dress, throwing them down beside Jules. “But, he told me to dress up. Apparently, it’s kind of expensive.” She plucked a dress off the top of the stack, walked to the mirror, held it in front of her, and then discarded it on the floor. “That’s all I know.”
Jules stood and walked to Monica’s closet, rifling through the clothing still hanging there.
“By the way, don’t be a pain about it but,” Monica hesitated, “your date is paying.” Monica picked up another dress and turned to smile at Jules.
Jules rolled her eyes but smiled back. Monica knew her too well. Jules never let anyone spend money on her. Wealth was not something most vampires struggled with accumulating. Especially old ones. Between ancient investments, centuries of financial success, and holding onto belongings for hundreds of years, most vampires were generally pretty well off. In fact, Jules had some first edition novels in her home that were worth a small fortune on their own.
So, instead of arguing Jules asked, “why is this guy paying to take someone he’s never met on a date?” It sounded to her like a custom that had faded away decades ago. She didn’t mind. Actually, she appreciated the gesture.
Jules reached into the closet and pulled a long, slinky, black dress from the back to examine it.
“Because he wants to, I guess,” Monica said happily. “Oh, you should definitely wear that!”
Jules looked up from the dress. “I don’t know.”
“Try it on,” Monica begged.
Jules had just managed to pull up the zipper when Monica called, “Hey Toad, come in here!” Ethan moseyed to the door and pushed it open. “What do you think of this?” Monica asked him about the dress she had tried on.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, lounging against the door frame.
“You’re almost a guy. What do you think?” Monica had on a short, red, strapless dress that showed off her dainty shoulders beautifully.
“It’s fine, I guess,” he said and then looked over at Jules. “Now that’s a dress!”
Jules was about to respond but before she could he blushed slightly, turned, walked to his own room across the hall, and swinging the door shut behind him.
Both girls laughed.
Jules’s breath caught when she smelled it. Blood. Fresh, dripping, human blood.
“Jules, what is it?” Monica asked. She knew the signs that indicated Jules was in distress. Jules stood statue still, clenched her fists, pressed her lips together tightly, and stopped breathing. These were the precautions that kept her from bolting toward the source of her bloodlust.
“Stay here. I’ll take care of it,” Monica said. She walked around Jules and closed the door behind her.
Jules dropped to the bedroom floor, clamped her hands over her mouth, and whimpered. She knew she couldn’t do what every instinct in her was screaming for her to do. Jules knew that if she gave in, by just a fraction of a thought, she would kill whoever was leaking out their life-source. It was likely that she would kill everyone in the house once the initial bloodlust was satisfied. And these people were like family to her.
Blood tears slid from her eyes and down her face, staining the white carpet near her knees. This was what Jules was. She was a monster by nature, but she was fighting it with everything she had in her.
After a few minutes, that felt like hours, the smell of fresh blood disappeared. Its memory still burned into Jules’s mind. She took a few, steadying breaths.
“Mom cut herself,” Monica said, returning and closing the door. Jules nodded but didn’t speak. “Oh Jules, it’s okay.” Monica grabbed a box of tissues off her desk and sat down on the floor in front of her. One hand pulled a tissue free and stretched out toward Jules, the other took Jules’s hand and grasped it tightly.
Jules focused on Monica’s touch. The human she cared about most, sitting in front of her, calling her back to the living world. “It’s over Jules. You didn’t hurt anyone. It’s over,” Monica continued softly.
Jules wiped at her eyes with the soft bit of paper, it came away red. Once she felt more fully composed she looked up at Monica.
“Yeah, that’s still gross.”
“What?” Jules asked, taken aback.
“You got a bit of…” Monica pointed beside her own eye to indicate the blood she’d missed.
“Oh,” Jules wiped at it again while both girls chuckled softly.
“I’ll be right back, I need to get something to clean my carpet,” Monica said as she stood again. She stopped at the door and turned back around. “You did good Jules.”
Monica was right. Once again, Jules had won a battle against her very nature.
CARSON
Carson had gathered those closely ranking beneath him to announce his decision regarding the vampire situation. He had taken enough time indulging Luca with the idea that he would consider his Beta’s plea. Vampires did not deserve, nor would they ever receive, any mercy from him. A vampire was a killer, and that was that.
All his Den member subordinates were watching him intently, as his impassioned speech came to an end. Well, all but one. Carson scowled down at his Beta. “Do you have somewhere to be?” Carson snapped, as Luca checked his phone for the fifth time.
“I do,” Luca said, offering no further explanation.
Having this entitled whelp as a ceremonial second was becoming more and more bothersome by the day. If only Luca’s lineage wasn’t… Carson halted that train of thought and returned to the task before him. “That said,” Carson began again. “If any of you come in contact with one of these bloodsuckers, or any vampire for that matter, you are to report their position immediately. A proper offensive will be formulated, and I assure you, the threat will be promptly dealt with. If you can, follow them to their dwelling, that would be ideal…” Carson stopped as Luca looked down at his phone yet again. Ben reached over and tapped Luca’s leg to get his attention.
“Going to be late?” Carson snarled.
“I am now,” Luca said, standing and making to leave the room.
“Luca Cain,” Carson called. Luca’s audacity was boarding on insubordination.
Luca’s Beta status did allow him to be somewhat legitimately adversarial, Carson had to accept that. Thus, this behavior was simply a consequence of the position Luca held within the pack. So, in favor of not escalating this irritation any further, Carson swallowed his rage and said, “if you see a vampire...”
“I know what to do.” Luca sighed and left the house, the screen door slamming behind him.
Carson continued, speaking more freely now that the thorn in his side was out of earshot.
JULIANA
Monica had arrived at Jules’s house ridiculously early the next day to start preparing for their date. Jules understood that it was special to Monica but didn’t understand why she’d chosen to be picked up from Jules’s house and not her own. When she’d asked, Monica had rattled off some explanation about her parents being embarrassing and her little brother being annoying. If this two-year anniversary was such a milestone in Monica’s life, Jules felt like her family should have been included. However, it was Monica’s choice, so Jules kept that opinion to herself.
While preparing for the night’s events, Monica did Jules’s hair twice. Jules had watched as Monica took her own hair down and put it back up four times. Now, she sat in front of her travel mirror with a pencil to her eye. Jules watched as she drew a perfectly angled line on her top eyelid. “Give me five more minutes, then it’s your turn,” Monica said.
“Oh, no. You don’t have to do that,” Jules began. “I’m fine going like this.” Jules waved her hand over her own face.
“Come on, Jules. It’s not like you can see to put it on yourself. I only want to do a little bit. I don’t even need to use foundation. I mean, for being dead, your skin is perfect. Please, let me do your eyes at least,” Monica begged as she finished applying eyeliner to her second eye.
For the most part, Jules was pretty much the ‘no muss, no fuss’ kind of girl. She never did anything to enhance her appearance, humans were drawn to her regardless, no need to help them see her as desirable.
“Alright,” Jules conceded, “just this once.”
“Yay!” Monica shrieked. Monica held up the mirror inspecting herself closer. “That is so weird,” she commented allowed.
“What is?” Jules asked while playing with the strap on her dress.
“I know you’re back there. I can see my dress hanging in mid-air, but you just aren’t there.” She pointed to the mirror in front of her.
Jules shrugged, it’d been centuries since she’d seen what she looked like. “Punishment for being a walking nightmare, I guess,” Jules replied.
“You take that back right now!” Monica chided. “You are not a nightmare. You are awesome! Say it.”
“I… am… awesome,” Jules repeated, to appease Monica.
“Good, now come sit so I can put some eyeliner on those iridescent, silver eyes of yours.”
Jules did as instructed. She tried not to giggle when the blush brush hit her face, it was a weird sensation, being tickled by soft bristles. Monica was just putting the finishing touches on Jules’s face when the doorbell rang.
“They’re here,” Monica shrieked, almost dropping the mascara tube she was holding. Jules had been expecting Seth to walk in unannounced like always, but it seemed he was taking this anniversary as seriously as Monica was.
“Go answer it, Jules,” Monica pleaded. “I want to make an entrance.”
Jules smiled, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, and walked from her bedroom to the front door. She could hear hushed voices on the other side of the door as she reached forward to open it.
She smelled it before she saw him. “Hi Jules,” Seth greeted. “Monica inside?”
Jules didn’t respond but stood frozen in the doorway.
“Jules?” Seth questioned.
She nodded but didn’t take her eyes off the man who was supposed to be her date.
“Have you two met?” Seth was looking from Jules to her date and back again.
“Not officially,” he said. “I’m Luca.” He held out a hand toward her.
Jules looked down at it, not sure whether to shake it or break it.
“Jules, Luca. Luca, Jules. Now you have,” Seth said when Jules made no move to take Luca’s outstretched hand. Seth shrugged and then stepped around Jules to enter the house and find his girlfriend.
After a few more long seconds, Luca pulled his hand back and dropped it to his side.
Jules watched as Luca’s eyebrows drew together, he looked down at her with a concerned expression. She was surprised not to see the hatred of his pack reflected in his face. “Are you alright,” he asked cautiously.
“Not…” Jules found her voice. “Not really.”
He reached a hand out like he may try to comfort her.
She took a step back, her eyes narrowing as she appraised him. He was truly as beautiful as she remembered. He was perfectly muscled and very tall. He probably had eleven or twelve inches on her petite stature. But more importantly, he now knew exactly where she lived, and Jules had no way of knowing what he might do with this information.
LUCA
She is just as beautiful as I remember, Luca thought to himself.
“Shall we go?” Seth said as he reappeared near the door with one arm draped around Monica’s waist.
“Monica I…” Jules began to say.
Luca cut her off, “of course,” he said. Smiling, Luca gestured for Jules to accompany him to Seth’s mother’s car.
The stunning vampire’s eyes widened, looking horror-stricken, but she did not speak. She seemed a lot warier of him than she had of his pack at the Promenade that night. This surprised him. She’d seemed so confident the last time he’d seen her. Tiny and fierce. Still, he couldn’t let her make up some excuse to bail on this date. What better opportunity would he get to find out more about the vampires in Aboit, to find out if they really were the threat that Carson, Ben, and even Kyle and Hayley seemed to think they were. If this vampire turned out to be just a gorgeous, soulless murder, then he’d follow Carson’s orders and report her. If not, and he was right about her, the possibilities were endless. Luca rolled that thought over in his mind and smiled to himself.
Monica and Seth walked a few steps ahead of them to the vehicle. Luca waited while Jules locked the door. He watched as the porcelain figure reluctantly stepped around him. Luca sped forward and opened the back door of Seth’s mother’s car for her, holding out his hand. Without meeting his eyes, or accepting the offered hand, she gracefully climbed in.
They rode in silence, but Luca continued to steal glances at the icy figure sitting as far from him as she could.
“Dang it,” Seth said from the front seat. This pulled Luca’s attention away from his date. “Sorry, everyone. We need to make a pitstop.”
As Seth got out to fill the car with gas, Monica rambled. “It’s so great of you guys to do this for us. Luca, do you know where we’re going?” But before Luca could tell her that he wasn’t telling, she moved on. “See Jules, I told you that it wouldn’t be so bad…”
Just then, Seth stuck his head back inside the car. “Stupid thing is telling me I have to see the cashier. I’ll be right back,” he said and then unexpectedly leaned across the car and kissed Monica on the lips.
Monica kissed him back, giggling and blushing simultaneously.
Luca thought he saw a smile flash across the vampire’s face, but he couldn’t be sure. It happened too fast.
Monica looked down and gasped, “oh! Seth may need his wallet.” She grabbed it off the seat. “I’ll be right back.”
“Monica, no…” Jules started to say, but Seth’s girlfriend was already gone.
“I’m only here for my friend,” Jules snapped quietly. “So, don’t…” Her voice was cool and threatening.
“We’re in the same situation, remember,” he said, stopping her.
“Are we?” She looked over at him accusatorily. He instantly hoped to never be on that side of her glare again.
“Look, before they come back, I need to say something,” Luca said. He watched as Seth shifted from one foot to the other while standing in line and Monica clung to his arm happily. “I don’t know about your friend, but Seth doesn’t know about me. I would really like to keep it that way.”
“Monica knows about me,” Jules said coolly.
“Really?” Luca asked, stunned. Monica couldn’t really understand how dangerous Jules was and still be comfortable around her, could she?
Jules nodded.
“Wow,” Luca said. If Jules was a cold-blooded killer surely she wouldn’t tell a helpless human her secret and let them go on living.
With that, they fell into an awkward silence and Luca’s thoughts wandered. He wasn’t sure what had inspired this coldness toward him. It disappointed him really. From what the vampire had said that night, the first time he’d laid eyes on her, he figured she didn’t judge werewolves the same way many of her undead counterparts did. It seemed now, that that sense of ease and acceptance was just a very well-played act.
Jules spoke after a few more moments of silence. “If you don’t try to kill me tonight, I won’t tell them about you.”
“That’s an easy deal to make,” he said, relief filling his expression. He stretched out his hand, to seal the bargain. She just stared at it. “Oh, come on, at least act like we’re both human here,” he coaxed.
“But we’re not,” she protested. Her seriousness juxtaposed oddly with the smirk on her face.
“They don’t know that.” He smiled, his hand still extended.
She sighed and took his hand but pulled back almost immediately.
It is true, vampire skin is cool to the touch. It was probably not enough for a human to notice but werewolves ran on the high side of the temperature scale.
JULIANA
Luca’s hand was warm in hers. She had forgotten the soft-fire feeling that occurred when the two species touched. Jules rubbed her fingers together. Werewolves... Jules’s thought was cut short and her head jolted up when the front car doors opened; Monica and Seth reappearing
“At least you two are becoming friends,” Monica said.
Friends? Since when did you become unobservant? Jules was slightly shocked that Monica hadn’t noticed the awkward atmosphere in the backseat. However, there was a reason Monica was so preoccupied tonight, she was in love. I can do this for her. It’s one date. All she had to do was survive the night, just one evening. After that, she’d go to Gabriel and together they’d decide what needed to be done.
As the car’s engine sputtered to life, Jules looked over at the werewolf Beta. He seemed to have completely relaxed now. He was smiling, leaning toward the front seat, and looking enthralled by the current conversation. Seth was regaling Monica with a story of an adventure he and Luca had had while backpacking the previous summer.
Jules tried to listen as her mind raced, filled with anxious thoughts. That feeling… desire. She hadn’t felt true desire, outside the desire for blood, in centuries. This was not that, but strangely, felt similar. Jules kept watching him. Why is he so at ease? He is so beautiful. Jules shook that thought from her head and let her mind wander to safer territories. Judging from the game of cat and mouse she had played with his packmates earlier in the week, she assumed he had orders from his Alpha. She had thought he would have reported her home’s position by now. But he hadn’t made any moves to pick up his phone since he and Seth had arrived. As the ride stretched on, it began to look like he wasn’t going to. At least not immediately. Jules remained stiff and silent as her mind raced.
They had left Aboit and were heading for Fort Miles, the nearest large city. Jules looked over at the werewolf again. His dark eyes were alight with laughter. His dark hair hung in loose waves around his face. His build was strong; I can see his biceps pressing against the confines of his jacket… Jules froze. What am I doing? She turned away quickly, but not quickly enough. He had caught her studying him. Jules looked down and pressed her lips together. When she glanced up again, he was still watching her. His black eyes were soft and inquisitive, not vindictive nor murderous like she might have expected.
By the time the van pulled up in front of the fancy Italian restaurant, Jules had finally stopped fighting with herself. It was a losing battle. She was attracted to the werewolf… to say the least. Both men stepped out of the car, walked around either side and opened the doors for their dates. Jules refused to look at Luca.
“It’s okay,” he whispered under his breath, holding out his hand. For some inexplicable reason, she believed him. Jules took the hand he offered. The heat from his skin warmed her own.
“Cain, four,” Luca said to the hostess, upon entering the extravagant lobby.
Jules suppressed her surprise. Is he a descendant of Stephen’s family line?
The hostess showed the two couples to a table on the balcony overlooking the dance floor and almost immediately a waitress came to take their orders.
“Um… I’m not feeling well,” Jules said. “I’ll just have some water.” She had been so busy fighting off baffling thoughts about Luca that she had neglected to think up a reasonable excuse for not eating.
“Oh, come on. I’m buying.” Luca smirked at her, a glint of a smile on his lips.
She would wager that he knew full well she didn’t eat human food. “No,” she whispered harshly.
“Well, then…” Luca studied the menu for a few seconds. “She’ll have the shrimp. You like shrimp, right honey?” He nudged his menu at Jules, playfully mocking her.
She glowered at him and Luca smiled, then he looked back toward the waitress.
“I’ll have the steak and tell the Chef that Luca said he wants his steak the way we like it.” He winked at the waitress. “He’ll know what I mean,” he assured her. “Thank you.”
The waitress looked skeptical but smiled at him.
“How do you both like it?” Monica asked Luca.
“Just rare,” he replied, shrugging.
“Reminiscent of a fresh kill that way?” Jules said, her voice inaudible to even the closest humans.
Luca’s eyes widened. He glanced nervously at Seth, then back again.
“Sorry,” Jules said quietly, lacking ant real remorse.
When their meal finally arrived, Jules stared at her plate. What was she going to do with such a massive amount of smelly little sea creatures? She glared at Luca, wanting to extend her fangs and hiss at him, but she resisted.
Throughout the course of the meal, some of the shrimp disappeared as she dropped them one by one into the napkin on her lap. Luckily, Monica, who was sitting beside her, was all too used to the little ways in which Jules disposed of human food. Eating the food in front of her was not an option. She’d tried once long ago and spent the night with her head hung over the chamber pot.
Jules glanced up and saw that Luca seemed to be studying her carefully from across the table while keeping a steady stream of conversation going with Monica and Seth.
“Are you alright, Jules?” Monica asked, leaning over to speak in Jules’s ear.
“I’m fine,” Jules said, trying to smile reassuringly. “I just need to powder my nose.”
Monica made a face, reminding her that it was an outdated term.
Jules shrugged. Luca’s presence had thrown her completely off her game. Not only was she extremely attracted to him, but she also believed his pack was hunting her, and he seemed to be unaffected by this. This whole situation was very unsettling. As she stood, Jules slid her napkin in front of her and turned to leave the table. She heard Luca chuckle lightly and scowled.
Jules strode into a stall in the bathroom, dumped the little creatures into the toilet, and flushed them away. Checking that the restroom was still empty, Jules paused in front of the mirror and leaned on the sink. She didn’t bother looking up at her reflection-less form.
Jules took some deep breaths as she formulated her thoughts. She still hadn’t seen Luca reach for his phone. He probably would now that she had walked away but that couldn’t be helped. If the rest of the pack did come to his aid, she would have to run. She didn’t like the idea of abandoning Monica and Seth, but Jules believed that Luca wouldn’t let either of them get caught in the crossfire. Of that much, she was sure. He seemed to be a good friend to her human companions.
Jules heard the bathroom door creak open and rushed away from the mirror toward the exit. She left the bathroom, lost in thought. She was so distracted that she ran face-first into Luca, her nose connecting with his muscled chest.