Dawn Rising

Slowly, after minutes of uncomfortable fidgeting, Janine got on with it. "Alex, you know you're my best friend, right? And we've been best friends for a while now. But." This was not going to go well. Alex's mouth drew into a tight line. The corners turned down into a frown. "I don't know how to say this. So, I'm just going to blurt it out. Alex, I've known about the Sons for a long time. I've known...everything...for a while now."

Alex stiffened, every muscle tight with tension. More lies. More secrets. She'd never doubted Janine's friendship. Never had a reason to, until now. Alex knew Janine was human. There were subtle differences. Now that she knew what to look for. Lucien's skin had a luminescence, a perfection that was too flawless to be human. His eyes, too intense, too clear to see the world the way a human did. And he moved with a grace no human was capable of. Besides, she'd seen Janine polish off half a pizza and three margaritas in less than ten minutes. "Everything? Explain everything to me."

Lucien wished he were anywhere but here at this moment. He so did not want to be dragged into the middle of a catfight. So far, Alex was doing a good job of keeping her cool. But, he could see the tension building in the line of Alex's jaw and the set of her shoulders. "I think I'll go see what Alexander is up to in the barn," he said, motioning to get up off the couch.

"Stay put," Alex snapped. "I may need you to keep me from killing her," she hissed softly, clenching her fingers into fists. Pleased when Lucien settled uncomfortably on the couch, she turned to her former BFF. "Janine, you were saying."

"Well. I...um...I'm a donor. What the Sons call a Blood Friend. The Sons don't hunt humans. You know that. If a Son needs a...snack...they need someone to call. Someone willing."

"They call you. And you...," Alex said.

"Um, yeah. Me. Others." Janine mumbled the last part. She didn't know if Alex fully got the whole picture yet. She didn't know how much Alex's parents had told her about their involvement in the Sons. Alex was under so much strain right now. And Janine knew her BFF. Alex would only take so much and then she'd blow. So far, Alex hadn't gotten that red blush around her neck that indicated that she had reached her limit. And Janine just wanted to get it all off her chest before she lost her nerve.

"They need contacts in the city. Extra eyes. They asked me to pal around with you. You know, just keep an eye on things. Keep you out of trouble. Make sure you didn't accidentally wander into a rogue's path. Stuff like that. I didn't expect us to become best friends. At first...I mean, you were just so boring. But, we did. Alex, we're still the same people we were yesterday. I am your best friend."

Alex crossed her arms over her chest. In one day, she'd been attacked by a rogue and almost gotten the life sucked out of her. She'd found out the last twelve years of her life were a lie. Her boyfriend had been resurrected from the dead. And her best friend was actually a walking juice box in size six skinny jeans. What was next? Little green men from Mars? Werewolves? "Best friends don't have secrets, Janine."

Janine winced at the bite in Alex's words. She knew Alex would be angry and maybe even hurt. Who wouldn't be? But, she'd expected Alex to at least hear her out. Take her side. That's what best friends did. Whether they agreed or not, they took each other's sides. "Alex, I was just trying to...,"

Alex held up her hand to shut Janine up. If she heard one more person say they were only trying to protect her she was going to scream. "I know. Protect me. I know. My God! Didn't anyone ever stop to think that I was capable of protecting myself? All of your protection almost got me killed yesterday.

"You knew about Lucien and yet, you didn't tell me. Hell, you were in on it with him. You knew vampires were real. And you didn't warn me. What else have you lied to me about Janine?"

Janine slouched into the rocker. Her shoulders drooped in defeat. She couldn't look Alex in the eye. Couldn't face the red heat creeping from Alex's neck to her cheeks that meant she'd gone from angry to totally pissed. Self-consciously, Janine picked at the hem of her shirt. Her nail polish, usually so perfect, chipped and worn from hours of drumming her nails in worry. "I guess I've been a shitty best friend," she mumbled.

Alex exhaled a heavy puff of breath and scooted back on the couch. Yeah, shitty summed Janine's behavior up perfectly. With all of these people acting in her best interests she was surprised they didn't line up to wipe her ass for her out of fear she'd cut her finger on the toilet paper roll. She could understand her mom and dad being a little overprotective. After all, she did almost die. She could almost excuse Lucien. After all, he was one of the undead. Nobody understood the creatures of the night as well as he did. But, Janine, the one person in the world that was supposed to be brutally honest with her no matter what. "I'd say so," she scoffed.

Lucien stared at his boots in rapt fascination. Those scuffs across the toe weren't there yesterday. He so did not want to get in the middle of this. Where was a crisis when he needed one? He'd rather be sending a rogue to the shadowy world of the afterlife than dealing with this. The girls were on the verge of a total melt down. Scowling at each other. Eyes watery with tears. Their cheeks flushed with emotion. He thought he knew a thing or two about women. But, he was not equipped for this. He was a guy. And like any wise man, he melted as deeply into the couch cushions as he could and pretended to be invisible. Nope. Not here. Can't see me.

Alex watched Janine squirm uncomfortably on the edge of the rocker's seat. Janine was a mess. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes like a dam about to bust loose. Her hair usually groomed to perfection hung in blonde tangles around her face. Without a trace of makeup in place, dark circles of fatigue rimmed her eyes. Her nails always filed into perfect half moons, polished to a brilliant gleam were chipped and jagged where she'd bitten them, as she was prone to do when she worried. Janine always had a smile for anyone. Her bottom lip sagged and trembled with sobs. Alex had never seen a person look more repentant than Janine did at this moment. Add some ashes and sackcloth and Janine would have a complete ensemble.

Alex was tempted, so tempted to let Janine sweat it out. Best friends didn't do that to one another. Despite what Janine had said and Alex's anger at the lies and half-truths, they were still best friends. It would take her a while to get over Janine's trespasses. But, that's what friends did. They forgave one another. What was important was that when she'd had needed her. Janine had dropped everything and came to her rescue. "No more lies?"

"Really?" Janine looked up, eyes widened in shock. Tears threatened to spill over the edges of her lashes. She'd been prepared to beg. Surrender those designer pumps Alex secretly coveted as a peace offering. Anything it took to get Alex to forgive her. Fervently, she shook her head. "Never!"

Lucien cringed at the next part. That moment when the storm passed to be followed by sappy feminine cooing and tearful hugs. He was glad, grateful even, that he hadn't had to pull Alex off Janine in a fit of rage. Relieved that the women had come to a peace, he got up off the couch. His work here was done.

Chapter 28

Leigh stood at the kitchen door. She was a terrible eavesdropper and felt ashamed for listening in on the girls' argument. Luckily, the fight had passed as quickly as it had come. Like a summer thunderstorm, here one moment gone the next to leave a rainbow in its wake. She'd been prepared to intercede. Help the girls patch things up. Armed with a pot of coffee, the good kind made in the percolator on the stove, for another long night. "Dinner's ready."

There were some things Alexander was better at. Handling Alex when she was out of control. Keeping the lawn mowed within an inch of its life. But, there were many things in which she excelled at. Normalcy was one of them. Left to his own devices, Alexander would get so caught up in the goings on of the moment that he'd forget to eat, make the bed, do the laundry, get the mail, or any one of a dozen mundane tasks that made a household a home. While Alexander put things together, Leigh was good at simply keeping them together. With a smile, she scooped the mashed potatoes into a bowl and set them on the table.

Lucien eyed the table jealously. Leigh always out did herself when it came to feeding her family. The table was set with her finest. Offerings of food that could tempt even him. There was so much of it. Mashed potatoes piled into a high mountain over the serving bowl's surface. Butter slicked peas with those little pearl onions. Roast beef with just the slightest hint of pink in the center graced a serving platter. Homemade biscuits decked with real butter and plum jelly. What he wouldn't give for one bite, just a taste of home and family on the tip of his tongue. Human trappings that reminded him of exactly how big of a gulf existed between Alex and himself.

Lucien was hungry. No use denying it or putting it off. He craved the food. But, the food wouldn't sustain. He couldn't indulge without serious consequences. One little nibble would incapacitate him for hours. He'd tried. At first, he thought maybe he was different. That, by some fluke, he could eat. He couldn't. And he'd paid. His dinner roamed about the woods on all fours. Awkwardly, he excused himself, sliding out the backdoor.

He picked up a scent and followed the trail. He watched silently, as the young buck, a yearling, scraped velvet from his antlers against the bark of a tree. Silently, Lucien leapt, landing between the buck's powerful shoulders. His fangs found their mark, deep within the deer's muscular tissues. The artery pierced, Lucien drank, releasing a torrent of life more satisfying than food.

The dinner table was quiet except for the occasional clanking of silverware against plates. Alex pushed her vegetables and roast with her fork, watching peas roll around on her plate. Before dinner she had been famished. But, now that it was sitting in front of her, she found that she had no appetite.

She looked up at her dinner companions. Her gaze darted between her mother, father, and Janine. Realization struck her right between the eyes as she put two and two together. She hadn't gotten down to the nitty-gritty, nuts and bolts of it discussion with her parents, yet. But, she got the gist. They were human. They all belonged to The Sons. And they all willingly gave themselves up as dinner to the vampires.

Alex liked her beef a little rare. Actually, a cool, pale, pink center was a little overdone for her tastes. The reddish juices pooled in the middle of her plate, seeping into the mound of mashed potatoes. The fluffy white border tinged pink from the blood, set her stomach reeling. Bile climbed up the back of her throat. Gingerly, she pushed her plate away and draped the paper napkin clutched in her fist over the food.

Her mother gave her a stern, disapproving look. But, said nothing. Her dad's fork didn't pause for a second, digging in for another pass at the beef. Janine toyed with the edge of a biscuit, pretending not to notice. Purplish-red jam dripped onto her fingers.

Lucien walked into the backdoor after his meal and took a seat next to Alex. Sated from the deer's offering, the smell of food turned his stomach. Alex stared at him. Her eyes fixed on the collar of his shirt. Abruptly, she pushed away from the table. Her skin had a sickly greenish cast to it. "You have a spot of blood right there," she mumbled, pointing to the neckline of his t-shirt. Eyeing the stain in horror. "Excuse me," she said, darting from dining room table and out the back door.

Alex fought against the waves of nausea. Her lungs sucked in deep breaths of fresh air. She ran along the back pasture, not caring where she was running to as long as it was away from here. How could her parents allow vampires to feed off them? How could Lucien sink his teeth into a living thing and suck the life out of it?

Her mind raced as quickly as her feet carried her. She needed to be alone to think. She needed time. The low hanging branches of an old oak she used to climb as a kid when she needed space, hung within her grasp. The tree was still solid enough to support her weight. She hefted her body up to the branch and scrambled her way higher up along the limbs till she found a satisfactory notch near the top.

Her recent infusion of Lucien's blood gave her the ability to climb so higher up into the tree than she'd ever dared. The tree, as sturdy as it was, weaved and bobbed beneath her weight. His blood, the blood of her parents, Janine's blood, the blood of how many others had offered a wrist for the cause? All of them were in her. Healing her. Working to make her whole. Their blood had given him strength and he had passed that strength on to her. And the thought all that strength, all those lives, sickened her.

Alex's skin tingled and her mind began to hum. Lucien was close by. She watched him through the tender spring leaves. She couldn't climb any higher without risking the thin branches snapping beneath her weight sending her tumbling to the ground. Lucien came to a stop beneath her tree and glanced up. "Come on down Alex. We need to talk."

"No. Go away." Alex replied. Lucien looked sincere enough. Almost apologetic even with his hands shoved deeply into his pockets and shoulders hunched. Brows wrinkled in concern. She wasn't buying it. She had no plans to move from her spot. He couldn't come up after her. The tree wouldn't hold their combined weight. This was as far away as she could get from him, from anyone.

"Don't make me come up and get you." Lucien said with the hint of a warning in his deep bass voice. He knew his threat held no weight. Alex was so high up that tree he wouldn't risk trying to make the climb for fear of causing her to fall. Over the years, he'd forgotten about some of her less than endearing qualities. She gave him a quick refresher course. Sometimes, she could be such a child. A brat. Pouty. Moody. And, like now, she needed a good spanking.

"Go ahead. Try it. You'll send us both toppling to the ground," Alex retorted. She rested her forehead against the rough, patchy brown-black, bark of the branch. Lucien never was one to take a hint. He'd just keep pushing and pushing, probing at her until she gave in or gave up.

What could she say without hurting him? She wouldn't lie. The lies were over. But, the truth disgusted her. And he wouldn't like it much. He couldn't help what he was. What he had to do to survive. The thought of him sucking on Janine's throat nauseated her. Or was it more to the point that it made her jealous as hell of her best friend. He'd probably twist it around into a complement of sorts. She wouldn't go there. She wouldn't discuss how sick it made her to know Lucien had dined on her parents. That was her mother for God's sake. "Right now Lucien, I'd like to kick your ass."

Lucien snickered as he replied, "Well, I guess you'll have to come down then." Anger was good. He could work with that. So much better than the glimpses of thoughts he'd stolen from her head. Alex had finally put two and two together and she didn't like the sum. He couldn't explain it to her. Especially with her dangling thirty feet over his head. He thought they were good. Apparently, they were, until Janine had put in her two cents worth and Alex had seen the blood on his collar.

Alex rolled her eyes and sighed, "Lucien, please go away. I really don't feel like talking." She hated herself for her repulsion. Lucien couldn't help what he was. Her thoughts about it were her problem. She was the one with the issue and taking it out on him was wrong. If he'd just leave her alone and give her time to sort it all out. It'd be better for the both of them. After all, she wasn't the one who lived on blood. It wasn't like she had to drink it. She just had to deal with him snacking on her parents and her best friend, and who knew who else was in the loop.

"Nope." Lucien said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. " Either you climb down or I'm coming up, doesn't matter to me." He heard the hesitancy in Alex's voice. She really didn't want to be left alone. She wanted to talk. But, just wasn't sure of how to bridge the tender subject of his diet. He had no secrets. She knew everything. If she'd shut up and listen to the whisperings in her head, it'd save them both a lot of time.

"You're not going to give up are you?" Alex slid her leg over the limb and balanced on a branch. The branch wobbled, precariously supporting her weight. Luckily, the branches were filled with sap and pliable. It held. She tried not to think about how high up she'd climbed. Or how far down the ground was beneath her.

"You know I'm not." Lucien leapt lightly onto a branch. With catlike reflexes he climbed, ascending the tree. Just as he was about to reach Alex, she scurried past him on her way down. He grinned triumphantly, following her.

"What. Do. You. Want?" Alex growled, stomping into the woods with Lucien fast on her heels. He was really starting to annoy her. Couldn't he take a hint? She just needed to be alone. She didn't want to talk. Not paying a bit of attention as to where she was going, she stormed deeper and deeper into the thick of the trees and brush.

"I want to explain things. I really am sorry about the way you found out." Lucien grabbed her upper arm, spinning her around to face him. How could he explain it? That to him drinking blood was like eating a rare steak was to her. He didn't think about it. He couldn't think about it any other way. Donors were sacred, of course. One did not bite the hand that fed them, maybe a wrist, maybe a neck, but never the hand.

How could he explain the bliss he found when the first drop hit his tongue? In that moment he wasn't drinking from Janine, or Alexander, or Leigh, or anybody else. There was blood. There was bliss. If he put too much thought into the source of his dinner, he wouldn't be able to do it.

There was a reason rogues typically killed their prey. It was easier. Along with the bliss came responsibility. Too much, and somebody died. Too little, and the hunger became unbearable. Those who did not kill walked a fine line Lucien understood all too well. Animal blood filled the gap. Raw gut instinct was so much simpler than human emotion. But, the thin, watered down substitute wasn't enough to sustain on its own.

When a vampire fed, he took the life of his prey with him. Random thoughts, detailed bits and pieces of lives, hopes, dreams, and fears, invaded the mind. The vampire knew more about his prey than the prey knew about himself by the time it was said and done. Not many could endure the constant chatter. Only by death of the prey could a rogue or any vampire ensure that he was alone in his own head.

The Sons didn't kill. The bond between a donor and a Son was beyond description, valued and sacred above all else. They took care of one another. Without the bond to hold them, the Sons would kill. Without the Sons, the donors would fall victim to the rogues. One of the things that kept the world in balance was the lingering humanity that existed in the vampire's soul. Some met their own ends or simply went insane because they couldn't or wouldn't kill, yet couldn't stand the voices of their prey in their heads.

"I'll bet you are." Alex jerked violently, freeing her sleeve from Lucien's solid grip. "For God's sake Lucien, you ate my parents." "I don't eat people," Lucien said defensively. In a move too fast for Alex to evade, he gripped her arm tightly in his fingers. He had to make her listen. Had to make her understand. Eating was something he did to survive. No one was ever forced to part with their blood. He wasn't a thief. He just simply wanted to live. "No, you just snack on them," Alex hissed. She struggled to free herself from Lucien's grip. She'd kissed those lips. And she'd liked it. She couldn't even use her own ignorance as a defense. She'd known what he was. What he ate was assumed. And she'd kissed him anyway. Maybe, if her mom had made a light supper of salad instead of very rare roast beef, Alex wouldn't have given his diet another thought. It was just that the blood pooled on her plate reminded her of the blood caked in her hair and on her clothes. Drove the point home.