Silver's Bane

Chapter Five Date with the Enemy-1

Chapter Five Date with the EnemyAs 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.