Retribution (Book 3 of The Dominion Series) (21 page)

"Thanks. That's really nice of you." I close my locker and turn to face him. "I'm not sure I can come."

"Why not?" Nate said, frowning. “Your boyfriend? He can come, too.”

"He’s working."

"So he doesn’t allow you to go out without him?" he says, smirking.

“No, I can go out!”

"Just kidding. If you can, it'd be fun. Everyone goes to this. It's tradition."

"I've never been to a pub crawl. If I can go, is there," I say and hesitate. "I mean, is there anything I should wear?"

"You've never been to a pub crawl? You’re a junior. Where’d you go to university before?"

“Boston U. But I was a bit of a, I don’t know – shy.” I shake my head, embarrassed.

"I get it." He nods. "You’re a genius, right? One of those brainy girls who’s going to do a PhD or something?”

“Hardly!”

“Totally casual,” he says. “I can pick you up at about ten."

"That's OK," I say quickly. "I'll get a ride."

"Great. Invite your boyfriend. He's welcome."

I smile and he smiles back, then he leaves me at the lockers. I stand for a moment, a little dazed. His joke about me being a brainy girl going to do a PhD makes me a bit nervous. Where did he get that? I walk to the front door. Julien will be waiting for me and I don’t want him to worry.

He’s leaning against his car at the end of the walkway, dressed in his usual uniform – white v-neck t-shirt, faded jeans, thick black belt, black leather jacket, dark sunglasses, several days worth of scruff on his face, his hands in his pockets. Gorgeous, in other words. I walk through the thinning crowds of students, and feel their eyes on me as I approach him. They've all seen the new girl in town. Now they'll get to see her boyfriend.

When I get to him, he takes my hand and pulls me into an embrace. Then he kisses me, his arms around me, pulling me against him. I try to pull away, but he holds me there, not letting go. Finally, he releases me.

“Julien” I say, my cheeks hot. “What are you doing?”

He grins. “Just showing all the little boys who you belong to.”

He opens the passenger door for me and I get inside.

“I think they got the message loud and clear.”

He hops in beside me and puts his arm over my seat and kisses me once more.

“I hope so.” He guns the engine, the tires squealing as we drive off.

At least we leave in style.

"I've been invited to the Junior Pub Crawl," I say as we sit at the kitchen island and eat our supper.

"No way," he says, shaking his head. "Too much drinking and touching, Eve."

"It's tradition," I say. "Besides, it will give me a chance to meet people. See what the Rhys girl’s friends are up to."

"Booze and young college-aged guys mean attempts to pick you up," Julien says. "An excuse to get all snuggly with a girl so I'm voting no."

I bang my knife down on the counter, and then get hold of myself. "What if I don't drink?"

He rolls his eyes at that. "The whole purpose is to drink,
cheri
. I’ve been to a pub crawl or two hundred in my time."

"I'll just say no. I’ll drink soda. Besides," I say, trying hard to rationalize, "maybe Brenda really did get a shock and I didn’t notice. You can send Red Cap to shadow me."

Finally, he lets out a huge sigh of resignation.

"Forget Red Cap. I'm going with you."

I smile. I’m going to the pub crawl.

The next day, Sarah Rhys and her friends are absent from school, and the Professors Rhys as well. The funeral for Christie is this afternoon and a lot of students have taken the day off so they can attend. I want to go and check out who attended, but we’ll have to rely on the Sheriff for that. I have no reason to go and so Julien asks the Sheriff to have someone tape the funeral unobtrusively just in case. It can’t be overt – the coroner ruled the death an accidental overdose and so there’ll be no police investigation.

At the end of the day, Nate is waiting at my locker, leaning against it, smiling.

"Hey, Eve."

"Hi, Nate," I say, a bit of warmth in my cheeks.

"We're going down to the beach for a swim. If you want, come and join us. I have my car."

I hesitate, fumbling with my books in my locker, stalling for time to think of an excuse. I want to go, see what these students are like, but I know Julien will say no to that as well. Who knows what kind of touching and feeling might happen at a beach...

"Isn’t it a bit cool to swim? The season’s over.”

“Nah, it's still great. The sun’s out today. The beach is sheltered. It’ll be fun.”

“I better not. I have a job interview at the Cove Bistro at five."

"Cool. You could always come along, go for a swim, and then take off when you have to."

I shrug. "I'll see.”

“Gotta check with your boyfriend?" He chuckles. "I saw him yesterday.
  Nice wheels."

I smile. "He’s proud of that car."

"He should be. He’s also a bit overprotective."

I sling my backpack over my shoulder and start down the hall with him to the exit.

"
Definitely
overprotective," I say, smiling.

He holds the door open. "If you can join us, it’d be great."

I go to where Julien stands at the end of the sidewalk.

"Hey."

"Hello,” I say. He pulls me into another embrace and kisses me pointedly.

When I pull away, I swallow hard, wondering how to word my request.

“Nate wants me to come for a swim down at the beach."

"Eve," he says, shaking his head. "Hasn’t he got the message that you’re taken? Besides, you don't go anywhere alone. Where you go, I go."

“Julien, I’m a hunter,” I say. “I could kill these guys with a pencil in ten seconds if I wanted. I’m only in danger from another hunter or an ambush.”

“Which he could be and which this could be,” he says, his voice firm. He frowns down at me, his hands on my shoulders.

“Why don’t you stalk me?” I say, unwilling to give in. “You know, use your skills in surveillance you bragged about when we were in Norfolk. I could go alone, have a swim, act like a normal college student my age, see what they’re up to, and you could watch from a distance. If anything looked suspicious, you could swoop in and rescue me like the superhero you are.”

He just looks at me from behind his sunglasses, his lips pressed thin, his jaw clenched.

“Jesus
Christ
.” Finally, he exhales and glances away from me. “All right.”

“This is what we’re supposed to do – infiltrate.”

“Yeah, but to me that means we infiltrate
together
so we can watch each other’s backs.”

“You mean so you can watch
my
back, don’t you?" I say.

“Don’t forget that you can still be beaten if you’re ambushed.”

I hold my hands up in surrender. “OK, I admit it, but you have to let me go on my own sometimes.”

He nods but says nothing more, not looking at my face. “Tell your
friend
you’ll meet him there. I’ll take you home to get your swimsuit and I’ll drop you off. Then I’ll find a place to watch. Those are my terms. Take them or leave them.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

He jerks his head back. “Yes, I can.
Don’t
make me.”

“Julien, I don’t want to fight with you over this. You said partners. This is what partners do. Get each other’s backs.”

We stand for a moment without speaking.

“OK,” he says, and brushes a strand of hair from my face. “I’m just worried about you. I know you think you’re all tough now that you’ve graduated from fight training, but you’re a long way from being able to defend yourself on your own.”

“Thank you.”

I turn back and walk up the path to where Nate stands.

“Your boyfriend giving you a hard time?”

I laugh. “Why would you think that?”

“He doesn’t look happy.”

I ignore his words. “I’ll go home and get my bathing suit and meet you there.”

Nate smiles. “Bring him along if you like.”

“Can’t. He’s busy.”

“Too bad. I’ll see you at the beach.”

I go to the car where Julien waits, already in the driver's seat. I get in and slam the door a bit too hard.

“Hey, welder’s daughter. Don’t slam the door.”

We drive off.

I don’t say anything on the way home. When we arrive, I go to the bedroom and change into my bikini and then go to the hall closet to get a beach towel.

Julien stands at the end of the hall, watching me. “You don’t have something a little, I don’t know, less like a bra and panties?”

“Julien, are you jealous?”

"
Oh
, cheri,"
he said and
shakes his head. I can tell his emotions have gotten the better of him because when they do, he drops into his French accent. “How could I not be? You look like something from a Victoria’s Secret catalogue.”

“That’s where I got it.” I turn to him, and do a pirouette. “This is what normal girls my age wear when they go out and, you know,” I say, struggling for words. “Do normal things with other college students, have fun,
socialize
. I read about it in a magazine. Saw it on a television show, so it must be true.”

“You didn’t socialize much at Boston U.”

“Not that I remember,” I say.

I pull a sundress over my head and slip on my sandals. Finally, I put on my sunglasses and grab my bag.

“Let’s go,” I say when he follows me. “I know, I know. No touching.”

I feel a bit nervous walking down to the water after Julien drops me off – not because I’m worried I’ll be ambushed by vampires out for my blood, or turncoat vampire hunters, but because all the eyes are on me, judging me. My stomach’s all butterflies as I walk up to Nate, who leans against a picnic table, drinking a beer.

“Hey,” he says, smiling.
  “I wasn’t sure your boyfriend would let you come.”

I laugh. I drop my bag and take off my sundress.

“You look nice,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go for a swim.”

I follow him down to the water where several other people I recognize swim or stand in the water. A few are out in the waves with surfboards and wetsuits. I stand at the edge of the surf. It’s bloody cold but Nate just runs in, splashing through the waves until he dives in head-first.

He turns around and swims back, then floats a few feet away from me as I edge into the water. I know he’s going to splash me.

He does. “Come in – get it over with. Or I’ll come and get you!”

I laugh, and evade him, swimming out a bit and tread water. He follows me and we just laugh and have fun, like I imagine normal people my age do. Normal people my age swim and go to pub crawls and have fun. They’re not vampire hunters who see and feel violence in the world around them.

After swimming, we throw a Frisbee around while other students play beach volleyball.

Then, someone I haven’t really noticed, sitting in a recliner with a large brimmed hat and sunglasses, stands up and starts walking towards us. He’s tall, maybe six foot four, very pale and well-muscled. He takes off his sunglasses and I gasp out loud.

Soren
.

He smiles, his ice blue eyes gleaming.

“Hello, beautiful Eve.”

I stand and gape at him for a moment, speechless. Beside me, Nate’s grinning. I see Julien racing down the street, then he swoops down the dune to the beach and is by my side so quickly he’s almost a blur.

He stands in front of me, his arms behind him, holding me.

“Go, Eve,” he says, his voice low and full of fear. “Get your things and leave.”

“No, I don’t think so, Julien,” Soren says and steps forward and before Julien can respond, Soren has his hand on Julien’s neck, squeezing, lifting Julien up off the ground as if he’s nothing more than a feather.

“Don’t, please,” I say, stepping closer to Soren. “Don’t hurt him.”

Soren looks at me as he holds Julien up by the neck.

“So sweet that you care about him,” Soren says.  “I just love a good romance. And you two are just so sweet together! All that beautiful lust and love. I can’t resist you two. But poor Michel, Eve!” He throws Julien fifteen feet through the air, where he falls among the rocks along the shore. The students ignore what's happening, and continue to play volleyball. I turn to run to him, but Soren stops me, one hand gripping my arm like steel.

“Poor Michel” he says, pulling me closer. “All alone after breaking his vows for you. How cruel are you to do that to him? Reignite his eroticism, then cast him away for his brother? I had
no
idea you were so heartless. I like it. I can use that heartless side of you.”