Stolen Sun (The Juliana Lucio Series) (10 page)

I
woke up to find that I was already out of my cooler, thankfully, and that William was standing over me gluing something onto my scalp.

“I didn’t know we were doing each other’s hair today, I can’t wait to run my fingers through yours.” I told him quietly, I didn’t
hear anyone else around, but still I didn’t
want to draw any attention by having my voice carry.

He just gave me a crooked smile, “I’m giving you a head wound and avoiding the silver poisoning in the process, but I have to admit I do like administering the cure for it.”

“What’s on my chest? I can feel something poking me.” I could feel a whole line of something poking me from each of my collar bones down my chest.

“Your stitches,” he said while focusing on my head
;
he had pulled out some sort of make-up brush now and I assumed was giving me a bruise.

“You gave me a Y-cut!”

I sat up abruptly and my sheet fell to my waist, baring my chest that was covered
in a perfect Y-cut typical of any autopsy. I pulled it back up to cover myself, not that it really mattered because he had obviously seen everything anyway.

“I didn’t cut you; I just gave you sti
t
ches that made it look like I cut you. We have to make this look like I’m done with your exam already, so I can supposedly get you cremated. It’s going to look suspicious if you look perfect, have had nothing done to you, yet I tell them you died from blunt force trauma, and I’m done with the autopsy. Besides, you didn’t feel a thing!”

“You saw me naked!” that was the real thing that was bothering me.

“I saw you naked the night Ana brought you home and we cleaned you up. You have nothing to be ashamed about. Trust me.” He said with a sexy smile.

“I can’t believe this! This is such a violation of privacy!” I was yelling in a whisper, our voices were starting to carry.

“Look, this took me forever to do
.
I’m still finishing your head, and I want to get you out of here, not sit around waiting to be discovered. Antonio will be here in 30 minutes, so lie down and play dead so I can finish,” he told me firmly.

I l
aid
back down on the table making sure I was covered
by the sheet
.
“I can’t believe you gave me stitches
.
” I was complaining under my breath. “A Y-cut, this is getting so morbid
.
I swear I am never going around you two and sharp objects again.”

“Are you ready for this?” William abruptly asked me
.
I could feel the tension coming from him.

“I have to be, right. What are we going to tell him, that my body went missing in the last 12 hours?” I shot him a nervous look from the corner of my eye and could
s
ee that he was not interested in sharing banter with me at the moment.

“I’ll be fine, like I told Ana, I need to do this. It’s the only way that he will put an end to looking for me and will allow himself and the boys to move forward. Besides, I need to feel him near me one last time, even if I can’t touch him back; I need to have one final goodbye.” I gave him a look full of sincerity, and I hoped he could understand. It wouldn’t
change anything, but still I wanted him to understand.

Before he could answer the inner office phone rang. “They’re probably calling to let me know your husband’s here. Are you ready or do I tell him to come back?” William asked me.

I swallowed noisily then nodded, “Ready,” I said in a hushed whisper. William gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and got up to get Antonio.

“William?” He stopped and turned his head to look at me questioningly.

“Thank you. For everything.” He nodded once and proceeded walking to the door.

I focused on not breathing, not moving, and not allowing myself to cry.
Dear Lord, please let me get through
this.
I could hear two sets of footsteps equal in stride; William didn’t
generally make any noise at all when he walked so I knew he was doing it intentionally to let me know where they were.

“Your wife is right in here
,
Mr. Lucio
.  A
re you prepared to view your wife’s body? I want to make it clear that it isn’t necessary to the investigation; the police have confirmed her identity with DNA testing.  This would be entirely for your benefit alone,” William was telling Antonio right outside the door.

“I appreciate the concern Doctor, but yes I am prepared and would like to see her as soon as possible. I’m afraid this all won’t be real for me until I can see her for myself.”

I knew that’s
how he would feel.  That was the entire reason I’d made this choice. His voice sounded strong but held an undercurrent of sorrow and resignation.

“Right this way then.”

The doors to the morgue opened and I could hear my husband’s heart practically beating out of his chest
.
T
here was a light smell of salt in the air and I guessed he had been crying recently. Antonio didn’t move forward away from the door, for about ten seconds or so he didn’t
take a breath, just stood there. Finally, he began to move forward at a slow but sure path toward me. I could sense William standing near the door
and brought my attention back to Antonio. I kept my features statue still, my breathing nonexistent.

I was dead.

At last, he reached me.

“Jules,
” He rasped out on a whisper.

Do not react. Do not cry. I am dead.

Antonio reached out and took my hand, squeezing my fingers gently.

“I can’t believe it’s real, I told anyone that would listen that you were still out there, fighting to come home.”
If you only knew.

He knelt down putting his knees on the tile, keeping hold of my hand, while resting his forehead on my shoulder.

“The boys wanted to come see you. I told them absolutely not, that they were to remember you dancing in the kitchen, reading to them at night or telling them stories of your day. Not this--not like this
,
Jules. I had to see you though, I couldn’t believe it otherwise.”

Don’t
cry, don’t cry, don’t
cry. Oh,
Lord
help me.

He stopped speaking for a minute, and I felt his tears running along my shoulder.

“We will always love you Juliana, with our whole hearts. The boys said to make sure I told you that for them.
Tu sei il mio sole, il mio amore. You are my sun, my love.” He stood up and I could feel his gaze upon me, he bent over and gave me a small kiss on the lips.

“She certainly was beautiful.”

He was saying aloud, it was hard to tell if he was talking to himself or to William, but William replied anyway, “Yes, she certainly is.”

“Did s
he suffer? I know they hurt her
that much I can see, but did she suffer?”

“No, sir, she didn’t. From what I can tell your wife was hit on the head hard enough that she would have passed out immediately. Most likely before she even hit the ground. Head wounds are famous for the amount of bleeding they cause, which was why there was so much blood at the scene. The reason she died was from the internal brain damage the trauma caused. There isn’t anything you or anyone else could have done. I’m sorry.”

“I should have been there! I hated her working late hours. I was always trying to convince her
to
work the day shift, but she insisted that she enjoyed it. Damn American woman, she was so stubborn. I could never talk her into or out of anything you know.”

Antonio was still holding my hand, stroking my fingers with his thumb. I could feel him wavering in wanting to ask his next question however, and I had to remind myself not to breath. As he spoke it came out a barely concealed whisper, and I could smell the tears start to flow from Antonio as he finally gained the courage to ask the question he apparently had feared the most.

“Was she . . . was she,” he was trying to ask on broken sobs, “was
--”

“No, sir, your wife wasn’t assaulted in any other way than the head wound. The only injury I found on her is the one you see. The police think it was an accident.”

“Thank you. I will find the
figlio di puttana
that did this
,” he said with a new determination.

“What do you mean? The police are already looking for the person that did this; you really shouldn’t involve yourself, just try to take care of your sons during this difficult time.” William was trying to reason with him; we weren’t sure where Antonio was going with this.

“Yes, well I hope I find him first doctor. I can guarantee you I won’t be as lenient as the police will be.”

I thought this would give him closure, not spur him on his own personal vendetta; had I really only made things worse?

Antonio let go of my hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, and a
fter a moment of passing silence
,
William started to speak in quiet,
respectful tones to my husband.

“Mr. Lucio
,
if you have had enough time viewing your wife, would you please mind coming with me to my office? I’d like to make some arrangements for you,” William was saying as he led him out of the morgue.

As soon as the door closed, I lost it. I cried hard and silently, but still cried out all the pain and sorrow that had been building in me these last few weeks. I let the pain just bleed from me like an open ve
in; how could I just leave them!
Now that it was done, how could I just leave them?
I couldn’t believe all that I was putting them through. One way or another, I silently vowed to myself that I would one day be reunited with my family again.

William had convinced Antonio to cremate me, and being the nice friendly doctor that he is
,
had agreed to have it all arranged and taken care of for him
.
A
ll he would have to do was pick up my ashes at the local mortuary. It never crossed my husband’s mind that wasn’t
part of a Medical Examiner’s job, but then again why should he know that, he’d never had a dead wife before.

We sent the mixture of human and log ashes to the local mortuary to be picked up in two days by Antonio Lucio; they thought they were just receiving a delivery from another mortuary. We doctored the police records to look as if William sent
my body to be cremated when really I
was
just walking out the back door. Granted everything was done at lightning speed for a murder investigation, but what were they going to do about it, fire William? He would be long gone and there would be no body to retrieve. They would have to deal with it and do their job with the pictures they had and evidence they took. They were lucky we weren’t destroying everything, but I didn’t
want my family to find out. Everyone had a body, my family got their
closure, I could move on
as well. Right, like that last one was really going to happen.

W
illiam had brought me a pair of leather pants, a white ribbed tank, a fitted leather jacket, and riding boots for me
to wear out of there. He also had a helmet waiting on the pile of clothes, which was unusual given
he didn’t believe in them because
we couldn’t
“die from a motorcycle accident.” I dressed quickly and left to
go
find him in his office.

He was in the middle of changing out of his scrubs and was wearing black leather pants and riding boots that matched my own; he was just pulling on his trademark black T-shirt as I walked in the door.
Even though I was still caught up in my own misery,
I froze at the sight of him naked from the waist up. I had felt
those muscles before but had yet to catch sight of them
,
and
what a sight they were. He had a strong firm chest that led into flat washboard abs that were hard and lean without being bulky, his muscles trailed a narrow path all the way down past the waist of his leathers. Once my view was blocked
by him pulling down and tucking in his shirt, I looked up to see he had a knowing grin on his face; he knew I was ogling him, and was enjoying it too.

“You look good in leather.” He said it a bit huskily that made me think he thought I looked really good out of it too.
“The black and green of your eyes looks even better.”

Avoiding the subject I held out the helmet in my hand, “What’s with the helmet? ‘We can’t die from a wreck so why bother’
,
that is your motto right?”

“It’s called camouflage
.
I disabled the cameras in the morgue, but I don’t want anyone to notice you on the way out. That and I don’t want to have missed one in the parking lot. If you’re wearing it no one can see who you are. I had to buy the damn thing just for you
;
can you believe I’ve never owned a helmet before?”

“As a matter of fact I can. Can we go now? This place is making me antsy
,
and I want to get these darn stitches out.”

“Ready when you are love.” He grabbed his keys and jacket and held open the door.

I put the helmet on as we walked out the door heading straight for William's BMW. He was parked
a little off to the side and away from everyone else.
We were making our way to the bike when William suddenly stopped and pulled me to him. I thought there must be some danger I hadn’t noticed, but he just wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest.

“I know how hard that was on you. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“William, no offense, but how can you possibly know? Have you had to lie there, perfectly still and play dead
, while you tore your husband’s
heart to pieces? I still don’t entirely understand what this was all for. I have great control as long as I stay satiated; I would be fine around them
.
”

I pulled away from him in my anger and heartache at what I just went through and what I put Antonio through. Yes, I was starting to have some feelings for William, but given a choice, I would go back to Antonio.

“I do know Juliana, better than you might realize. I didn’t have to be the one on the slab, no, but I did have to be the one that buried my wife.”

William turned his back on me and ran his fingers rou
ghly through his hair; I could
tell that he was making a tough decision. He abruptly turned back to me and was speaking with such pain that it was almost like he was retelling of a loss that happened just yesterday.

“After I was turned, I too thought that I had great control, that I wouldn’t hurt her because I loved her. Well, I was wrong. I went back to my wife hiding what had happened to me. We slept in separate chambers so it was easy to conceal that part of it, and I just told her my duties were requiring me to work odd hours. She never questioned me on anything, ever, so I couldn’t say if she thought this odd or not.

One night while we were making love, I was overcome with feeling and accidently scraped her neck with my fang. I hadn’t fed yet; I was planning on going out that evening but had been delayed. The sight and smell of blood--no, her blood-- was too much for me, and I started to drink from her. At first she didn’t realize what I was doing then she became frantic, her fighting set off my bloodlust even more, and before I realized it . . . I had killed her. I killed my own wife.”

I just stared at him, and I realized why he seemed to have a hidden sorrow in the depths of his eyes whenever I managed to catch him off guard.

“But you didn’t mean t
--”

“And would that really matter if you killed your husband? Could you ever forgive yourself? The reason we are making you do this Juliana is to prevent you from doing just
that, not only keep you out of t
he Council sights. Let’s head back; I’m sure Ana is waiting to see you.”

We continued on our way to his bike, neither of us really knowing what to say to the other.

I climbed on
behind him straddling the bike,
wrapping my arms around his waist before he took off like last time. William revved the throttle and I couldn’t
deny the feeling of power that came just from sitting on the thing. Just as we were about to take off
,
the director of the morgue flagged down William as he came strolling over to us. I was suddenly very thankful for my ‘camouflage’.

“Hey Dr. Franklin, I hate to bother you on your way out, but I wanted to follow up with you and see how that Lucio case was going.”
Dr. Franklin? Oh! That must be William’s alias.

“Already taken care of Director Morris; I’ve notified the captain of my findings and sent him a written report
;
there’s a copy on your desk as well. Mr. Lucio came in this evening to view his wife’s body, and I went ahead and helped him make arrangements for the body to be cremated. I know that isn’t protocol, but he was so distraught I couldn’t help but help him out. As a matter of fact, the mortuary just left with the body about twenty minutes ago.”

It was weird seeing William looking like a bad boy and speaking like a doctor to the director. It was a clashing of two worlds to be sure. William played the role so well that I started to wonder what it was that he really did. I knew Ana was really a doctor, I had worked with her, but I just realized that I had no clue what William did when he was out.

“
Wow
that
certainly is getting things done quickly. I like to hang on to the body a little longer normally, just in case, but if you’re sure we have it all . . .” the director started to trail off.

“Well doctor
,
if there’s nothing more.” William said implying that he was holding us up.

“Oh! Yes, sorry about keeping you. Oh, and ma’am
,
I believe you
r
stitches are ready to come out, you can’t even see the cut anymore. Have a good night.” He said cheerfully as he strode back into the building.

I looked down at myself and there was a small gap
in the top of my jacket where you could see about three inches or so of the sutures William had put in me earlier to mimic a Y-cut.

“Get me out of here,” I told him hotly.

He revved the engine and bolted us out of the parking lot, the roar of the bike drowning out the sounds of his laughter.

We rode fast and hard through the streets of Chicago taking the scenic route home and turning a ten-minute ride into an hour one. It was a nice distraction for a short time, but that’s
all it was. I still had bigger problems ahead of me like what to do about the Retta’s tailing me and my family.

As William pulled into the drive of the house, I
immediately started to feel an intense prickling at the back of my neck. I had gotten used to being around William and Ana so often that they didn’t
register a physical response with me anymore; I could still sense them just as strongly however. William noticed them at the same time I did. I realized this because I felt
him
instantly tense up, the muscles in his arms and back bunching up under his jacket.

“It’s the Retta’s,” he said on a growl.

I just about jumped off the bike before he finished speaking
,
and he grabbed my arm to stop me. This was reminiscent of the first night I met him when he was trying to keep me from fleeing away, this time I wanted to go charging in.

“Jules, please, of all people to keep your temper in check around, these are them. They will destroy you and your family without blinking an eye.”

“I don’t care who they are, they aren’t going to touch
--”

He put his face close to mine, our noses touching, his eyes a stormy black, but it wasn’t from desire this time; it was from barely contained anger, and a hint of fear.

“If I need to tell Ana to compel you to keep your mouth shut, I will. I don’t care how much it will piss you off. If it keeps you alive
,
I will do it. You will NOT anger them
,
do you understand me?”  He put the full power of his rage behind his words, I wanted to cower back and tell him I would do anything he said. I realized he was trying to compel me himself!

“Do not attempt to compel me again. You are not my lover, my husband
,
or my Sire
–
if you want to remain my friend you will back off now.”

I gave back to him
,
with as much power of my own behind it
,
as
much as
I could muster; he didn’t
cower but did agree to back off.

We went into the house, with William leading, to find Ana sitting in the library with a short, chubby, middle-aged man and a girl who appea
red to be his 17 year-
old daughter. At first glance they didn’t
appear to be the imposing figures I had been expecting. I wasn’t
sure William was right in his assessment outside that the Rettas’ were here. These two were definitely vamps, I was getting that much from them, but I didn’t
think these were the death-dealing masters William and Ana spoke of.

The man was sitting in the leather chair beside Ana
;
he was wearing a pair of khaki pants, a long white sleeved shirt with a sweater vest over the top of his protruding belly. He had short graying hair, chubby cheeks my grandmother would have loved to pinch, and a friendly, easy smile. It immediately put me on edge.

Ana was sitting at one end of the couch, her posture perfect, her face a blank slate.
Man I wish I could do that
. She was wearing a pair of Dolce &
Gabbana jeans paired with a capped sleeve cashmere top and stiletto heels that I was just willing to bet were tipped
with silver, if I had learned anything this weekend. She looked classy and sophisticated and could stake your ass in a heartbeat if required. I could practically read her mind
;
she was projecting her feelings onto me so intensely. Basically, it came down to “don’t ‘F’ this up.”

Sitting on the couch next to her was who appeared
to be a 17
year old girl, sitting unimposing in a cute sundress with her legs curled underneath her. She had light brown hair that fell in loose waves to the middle of her back and bright blue eyes on a sweet innocent face any mother would love to see their
son bring home.

“Juliana, I’d like you to meet some old companions of William and I.”

Ana was holding her hand out
to me like one would hold out to beckon a child to them, it irked me for sure, but I was remembering both her and William’s warnings and didn’t
want to mess this up, so I went to her.
I took her outstretched hand and she pulled me to her and kissed my cheek. As I leaned into the pull she breathed against my ear so I could hardly hear her, “behave.” It was so soft I scarcely heard it, so I knew no one else had, but it still didn’t
lack any of the threat implied
behind it. After straightening from greeting Ana, I moved to stand at her right side, a little behind her, at the edge of the couch. This left William standing at the entrance dividing the kitchen and library, also very close to the man. It would almost appear strategic–if we had planned it.

Ana continued her introductions, “Juliana, this is Victoria Retta and her Sire, Nathaniel Retta. Nathaniel, Victoria, this is my child whom you’ve been so anxiously awaiting, Juliana Lucio.”