Chapter 21 Julian

It had been two days since my rendezvous with Caesar and Shea, and returning to Heritage Prep after had been more difficult than ever before. I didn't know how to feel about what we did. I enjoyed it, obviously, a lot more than I thought I would. I supposed what struck me as odd was that it hadn't felt odd at all. It felt…like home.

But was it something that was really sustainable? Even now, knowing I was so far away from Shea while Caesar was right around the corner… I felt both relieved and pained by that. Relieved because he was there to protect her. Pained because he would get far more time with her than I would.

And then there was the Alice of it all. Though I had made the conscious decision to move on, to let her continue to rest in peace, letting her go wasn't quite so simple. I'd held onto her memory for so long that holding on was almost an integral part of me. I didn't quite know who I was without her as my purpose.

But it was possible that Shea—and Caesar—could be my new purpose. Keeping them safe from the vampires of Hadrian's army. Helping them to defeat Hadrian once and for all. Building a world where shifters, witches, and vampires could work together in harmony.

That thought had been the only thing compelling me to return to my post as spy at Heritage Prep. Since I'd been back, however, I'd hardly left my quarters. Hadrian was out on one of his missions, so there was no one to boss me around. It gave me time to plot an escape plan for Piper.

That's where my thoughts roamed as I played the piano in my room. I'd brought along my new piano book—my Christmas gift from Shea. And while I didn't care much for contemporary pop music, it was at least somewhat enjoyable to play something outside of my usual repertoire on the piano.

My eyes bounced along the notes while my fingers followed suit in practiced perfection. Sight-reading was a skill I'd worked hard on over the years, but now it came so easily.

Julian's fingers danced along the keys as my mind turned over various options to help Piper. No matter what, Hadrian would never willingly let her leave. If she escaped and he knew she was alive, he would never stop hunting her down, and then he'd either kill her or shackle her to the lab to finish her job before killing her.

The best way to ensure Piper's safety was to stage her death. But what was the best way to do that?

A soft knock came at the door, and my fingers stopped. I closed the lid on the keys, then hid Shea's piano book inside the bench—I couldn't afford unwanted eyes to see that modern collection on the antique piano.

I opened the door to find Marguerite standing on the other side, resting a shoulder against the stone doorway. She was in her typical black getup, her black hood up to the crown of her head and her blonde hair trailing like locks of light. Her arms were folded, and her face held a mischievous smirk.

" Bad Blood ?" she asked, puckering her darkly rouged lips. "Really, Julian? I'd never have marked you as a Taylor Swift fan."

Had I been capable of blushing, I knew my cheeks would have been as crimson as a cardinal.

I scratched at the back of my head and adopted the same irritation that came so easily in Marguerite's presence. "Never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks."

Marguerite snorted, then straightened her pose. "The boss is back and wants an update from you. But I can tell him you're too busy busting out pop music up here if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary," I said quickly, stepping past Marguerite and pulling the door shut behind me.

Marguerite smacked me on the arm. "Oh, you're no fun. But your nervousness is extremely cute."

I stopped dead in my tracks and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Cute?"

She snickered. "Sorry, was that not formal enough for you? How about endearing? Charming? Adorable?"

Sighing, I tore my gaze away and kept walking down the stone corridor toward the staircase.

"Julian, wait up," Marguerite called, grabbing my arm a second later. "What I'm saying is that it normalizes you. That's not a bad thing."

Her grip gently dropped from my arm to my hand, and I felt her familiar fingers against my own. Long ago, before we'd become vampires, I'd found great pleasure in holding her hand. I'd looked forward to any chance at physical contact with her after working in the Frost orchards all day. But that was before she left. And that was before Alice had come into my life.

At the thought of Alice, I pulled my hand away and shoved it in my pocket. Marguerite's shoulders slumped.

"Why?" she said, her sad eyes piercing into mine. "Why won't you give us another chance?"

I shook my head. I was tired of this question. It was this question that had ended with me turning into a vampire. It was this question that had led to the death of Alice. It was this question that she'd thrown at me after saving me from hunters and bringing me into Hadrian's fold.

At first, I'd let her down gently. When we were friends. Now, everything about her disgusted me, and despite my obvious disdain for her, she still persisted.

"I've spent my whole life forcing myself to become more than what I was," she continued. "I've done it all in the name of increasing my status here at Heritage Prep. Our fellow vampires respect me. Hadrian respects me." Blood tears beaded at the corners of her eyes, and she gritted her teeth. "And you know what? It wasn't for them. It wasn't even for me. I've spent the past one hundred and fifty years trying to become worthy of your love, Julian. That is all I've ever wanted. For a few years, long ago, I had it. And I want it back."

I returned her gaze, although it pained me. I had cared for her before she'd left the boarding house. Back then, I'd seen a potential future with her. But after experiencing the soul-deep connection I'd had with Alice, I knew that what I'd felt for Marguerite was little more than childish infatuation. And that's all it would ever be.

"We're not the same people we were back then," I said, softening my tone in hopes of making her understand. "I'm a broken man with a heart that belongs to another, and you're Hadrian's right hand."

She shook her head as if my words simply bounced off her. "I've learned from our past, and I'm ready to do whatever it takes."

"Marguerite," I groaned, more out of exasperation than anger.

"No, hear me out." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Right now, I will leave with you, abandon Hadrian, forsake the life I've created. We can run away together—anywhere you want to. I know you desire solitude. I will join you in that solitude if it means we can be together." She tapped my chest, then hers. "You and me, like the keys of a piano—the white and the black, making an eternity of harmonious music together."

Her words were enchanting, and for a moment, I saw the sweet human girl I'd once adored. Her talk of music and her willingness to let everything go just to be with me. That she would turn her back on Hadrian for me and risk death at his hands. It seemed sincere, and it touched me somewhere in my cold heart.

But like I'd said, we weren't the same people anymore. She may look like that sweet human girl, but she had become a monster. She would just as soon as drink a random human dry as she would blink an eye.

I sighed. In that moment, Marguerite seemed as delicate as a butterfly. I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm truly flattered by your words, but your dream of exile with me would never be enough for you. Not while I'm unable to reciprocate your affection."

She inched closer until our bodies touched. My instinct was to step backward, but I held my ground as I stared into her rich brown eyes, unwilling to buckle. We stood like that for several moments, studying each other, until Marguerite made a slight movement and pressed her lips against mine.

Again, my instinct was to step away and reprimand her for her actions. Instead, I let her lips linger while I remained still as stone and just as cold. I needed to show how little she affected me.

Her eyes were closed, and her lips trembled against mine until she pulled away.

At last, her eyes opened, tear-filled and pained as if I'd stabbed her through the heart with a copper dagger.

But she didn't weep or groan. With a sniff, she softly said, "Hadrian's waiting."

As she stepped forward, her shoulder roughly knocked into mine. I stared after her for a few seconds before following.

Was she really that surprised? She couldn't have thought that, after all this time, all my unfiltered enmity, I could possibly ever want her.

Marguerite's shoes clicked on the stairs, echoing through the passageway leading down to the main floor of the school. Upon reaching the Great Hall, I was surprised to find the large room completely empty. Besides our footsteps, not a sound filled the air.

Something didn't feel right. A dread crept over me, causing cool tingles to dance up my spine and my mouth to run dry. Marguerite's quick pace didn't slow, and she kept her eyes forward.

I had walked to Hadrian's trophy room countless times, but this time there was a heaviness settling on me, and for a moment, I felt the urge to turn around. But I'd been summoned, and Hadrian wouldn't just let me walk away this time.

Marguerite pulled the door open without knocking, which surprised me. It was an unwritten rule that Hadrian demanded the option of allowing visitors to enter or be sent away.

I followed as Marguerite slipped into the trophy room. Across the room, Hadrian sat at his desk, pouring over three tablets angled up, illuminating his face.

I stood at the entrance, waiting for the vampire leader to acknowledge me and invite me in. I glanced at Marguerite, who stood just a few feet away from me, leaning against the wall next to the doorway with her eyes downcast.

A moment of discomfort went by before Hadrian finally looked up.

"Ah, Julian, forgive me," he said, scooting his chair back and straightening his spine. "DNA is such a fickle thing to study—more detailed than an image with a trillion pixels, more intricate than a hand-woven rug, and more delicate than love." He waved at me. "Come in, come in."

I stepped forward, and a loud clang sounded behind me. I whirled to find Marguerite standing in front of the now-closed door, crossing her arms as if she were guarding it. The pained look was still in her eyes, making my pulse increase.

"We need to talk, Julian," Hadrian said, his tone resounding with disappointment as he got to his feet.

Panic shot through like a bolt of electricity, and I knew that what I'd felt in the Great Hall had been a warning I'd ignored.

I forced myself to swallow. "About what?"

"A lot of things, I think," Hadrian replied airily as he approached me with authority in his stride. "Let's start with your mission. How did your hunt for the gryphons go?"

I faced Hadrian, planted my feet, and stood my ground. "Something tells me you already know the answer to your question."

"Of course I know," Hadrian snapped. "I asked you a question. Now answer it!"

I licked my lips, noticing their dryness. "There were no signs of gryphons at Mount Logan nor in Whitehorse. You were given bad intel."

A wicked grin formed on Hadrian's pale face. "Oh, there was a sighting of gryphon activity."

The vampire leader strode back to his desk and removed one of the tablets from its docking station. With several quick taps, he approached me and handed over the device. "For your viewing pleasure. This footage was taken four days ago by drones equipped to handle extreme temperatures. Go ahead, push play."

Setting my jaw, I looked at the screen. The date stamp embedded on the video read January 7, 1:11 p.m . I tapped the play icon, and the top of Mount Logan showed against the light-blue sky. Seconds ticked by, and a large brown gryphon suddenly flew into frame.

I gasped. Caesar!

"So there was a gryphon in the Yukon Mountains on the day you went to check for yourself," Hadrian said in a mysterious tone. "But you just told me there were no signs of them. Tell me, old friend, why did you lie to me?"

I'd been caught. How was I going to talk my way out of this?

"It seems you're a bit tongue-tied at the moment," Hadrian commented. "Perhaps I can elaborate for you. Of course, I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle, so please, do correct me if I'm off. First of all, you know exactly who that gryphon is. His name is Caesar Rex, the director of the shifter school."

I didn't acknowledge my recognition of the gryphon. The less I verbalized, the better off everyone would be.

Hadrian waited a few moments before continuing. "Perhaps a little more dissemination is in order? Let's go back to the evening you voluntarily came back to Heritage Prep. You smelled of gryphon the moment you entered my trophy room, which means you had dealings with one. And it stands to reason that those dealings had to have involved Caesar Rex, the last living gryphon in the world. Am I right so far?"

I blinked but didn't say anything. I focused on maintaining a neutral mask and regulating my breathing to slow my pulse. Still, Hadrian continued to study me, his eyes piercing through as if reading my mind.

He chuckled and extended his hands forward. "Your silence speaks volumes, Julian. So Caesar sent you here, but for what purpose I have yet to discover. You came back and suffered a full day of drowning, followed by three awful days of hallucinations. You sacrificed much to join me again. I can only assume the great gryphon promised you something in return."

This time, I didn't even blink. What were my chances of getting past Marguerite at the door? Then making it out of the castle after?

"Whatever he promised is of little consequence now," Hadrian said, his wicked smile growing wider. "You played your part well. You caused the accident that blocked access to the subway station in Chicago, but you stood by as we fought my daughter and her friends. You knew I was watching then. And then your assignment to catch Arya and bring her to me... It was all a ploy. I sent you back to Chicago so I could keep eyes on you. And those eyes saw much. On Christmas day, one of those vampires suddenly disappeared."

I glanced down as I recalled the fight in my apartment with Solomon. The Australian vampire had nearly killed me, but Piper had come through and saved me at the last moment.

"Ah, yes, it seems you remember that particular detail," Hadrian said. "It didn't take much for your Initiate to spill what had happened."

I could no longer contain the panic. Everything was spiraling down. Hadrian knew everything.

"What did you do to Piper?" I hissed.

Hadrian's brow raised. "Do I detect concern for your Initiate? Good heavens, Julian, you're growing soft. You'll be happy to hear that her punishment was minimal, and she's back at work helping me. As of a few days ago, she's unassigned."

If Hadrian was telling the truth, Piper likely was still alive. I just hoped Hadrian hadn't done something terrible to her. My only relief was that Hadrian hadn't said anything about Shea. I hoped it would stay that way.

"You're a traitor, Julian. You're a traitor to your species. You're a traitor to those who once called you friend. Your disloyalty eliminates any status you once held. You are below the humans and shifters you sympathize with. And your silence magnifies your guilt."

Hadrian kept his gaze poised on me, and the silence screamed at me to retort, to argue, to give the vampire leader an earful.

I breathed deeply, then found words tumbling out of my mouth. "Whatever you decide to do to me today, I need you to understand why I left you and your vampire legion seven years ago."

Hadrian nodded. "Go on."

"You seek peace in this world, but you go about attaining it the wrong way. Your motives are barbaric and genocidal. You'd destroy the majestic shifters because you feel you're somehow greater than they are. But at the same time, you're envious of them—you want to take what they have and throw their corpses away once you have what you want. I left because I knew there was another way to live peacefully with the shifters. I talked with them. I learned about them. And I cared about them. I care about all life.

"So tear my status away—it means less than nothing. Kill me, I don't really care. But know this: I was done with you seven years ago, and that fact hasn't changed since I've been back."

Hadrian shook his head like a pendulum. "Julian, Julian, Julian, I'm not going to kill you. I'm not going to give you the freedom you've been wanting since your precious witch was buried."

Anger surged within me like a thunderstorm.

"How dare you talk about Alice that way!" I shouted, and I could withhold my bursting abhorrence no longer.

Fueled by the desire to defend Alice's name, I moved faster than ever before, slamming a fist into Hadrian's jaw and sending him flying backward. The vampire leader slammed into his desk, and the hardwood cracked from the impact. I leaped through the air and planted a knee into the crook of Hadrian's neck, then clapped my hands on either side of his head.

"Your rule ends today, Denholm Heir," I hissed.

Flexing my muscles, I clenched my teeth as I prepared to tear the vampire's head from his shoulders.

My hold slipped as something impacted my back, and my head smashed against the corner of the desk, leaving me dazed for precious seconds. Something pulled on my shirt, tearing it in places while I was thrown to the ground. My head cracked against the floor, and stars blasted into my vision. They cleared fairly quickly, and I found I was looking up at Marguerite, who was now sitting on top of me. I'd forgotten she was in the room.

She punched me once in the side of the head, causing another burst of stars to pop in my vision like fireworks. It happened again, then again.

Before my vision cleared, I heard Marguerite crying nearby. She'd gotten off me but had proven where her loyalties remained.

"You broke my desk," Hadrian growled. His voice sounded distant, but I could see the vampire leader towering over me, holding...something. I couldn't focus enough to see what it was.

"Like I said, I'm not going to kill you, although you more than deserve it. And the three years of drowning I promised you before? That's not nearly enough of a reward."

Hadrian bent closer and grabbed my wrists. I was too weak to resist. The cold kiss of metal on my wrists was followed by a series of clinks .

"Your eternal punishment?" Hadrian continued. "I'm turning you over to Marguerite for whatever purposes she intends."

I wiggled my arms uselessly against the cuffs.

"You get to test a new invention we've created." Hadrian grabbed the chain holding the cuffs together, dragging me upward like a rag doll. "These are called probe manacles. Let me just push this little button."

My eyes were slowly coming back into focus enough to see what Hadrian was doing. There was a small button on the middle chain, and when the vampire leader pushed it, I felt a prick as something within the manacles inserted into both of my wrists.

"The probes are detecting what kind of creature you are, and after a few moments..."

The dull sting in my wrists flared as if I were being branded by a hot iron, and I cried out.

"Ah, see? The probe has discovered that you're a vampire. Every six hours, it will insert a minuscule speck of copper into your wrists to keep you in a weakened state. In this manner, Marguerite will be able to have her way with you." Hadrian looked up at Marguerite and smiled. "Will this suffice, my most loyal friend?"

My head slumped to the side as I looked up at my ex-girlfriend and new captor.

"I've waited a long time for this," she said, her eyes growing distant, perhaps remembering something from our past.

I couldn't think clearly. The sharp pain was one thing, but whatever copper had been placed in my bloodstream was clouding my thoughts. What would Marguerite do to me? How would I escape?

"On your feet," Marguerite ordered, grabbing the chain and pulling me up.

I swayed back and forth. Dizziness threatened to throw me back to the floor, but Marguerite steadied me.

"Let's get you to my chambers and make you a little more comfortable, hmm?" she purred.

My will to resist had been drained. My legs moved maladroitly, following Marguerite's guidance like an injured animal.

As she towed me through the doors and into the Great Hall, she whispered, "You should have taken my offer."