Chapter 8 Julian

It was two days into the new year when I was summoned back to Heritage Prep. Hadrian called to inform me that he was sending his own private jet to collect Piper and me.

"I don't want to go back," Piper lamented from where she sat cross-legged on the floor after I'd hung up the phone. "What if he knows what we did—what I did? Why else would he send a private jet?"

I shook my head, though I, too, thought it was odd, especially after reading the text Shea had sent me about the Initiate who'd been spying on her. "If he knew, he wouldn't bother with the cost of sending for us. He'd just have us killed outright."

I didn't quite believe that either. Hadrian had already told me he'd torture me for years if I failed him, and gods only knew what he'd do if he discovered my betrayal.

"Then why is he calling us back when we haven't fulfilled our mission?" she asked. "What if he interrogates us about Solomon?"

I sighed. "As long as we stick to our story that we never saw him, there's nothing to investigate. I've made certain that Solomon will not be a problem."

That night after Shea left with Piper—and Caesar left without a word—I took great care in disposing of the corpse in my living room. The body itself was a simple task. All I had to do was take it to the roof of my building and watch as the sun's glorious rays incinerated it to ash.

Watching Solomon burst into flames, his flesh melting off his bones, was a gruesome chore, and I had never been so grateful for my ability to walk in the daylight. If he hadn't already been dead, I couldn't imagine a more hellish way to die.

And it wasn't quick the way it was in movies. There was no exploding in a burst of flames and crumbling into oblivion. The older a vampire was, the longer it took for sun exposure to kill them.

I didn't know Solomon's exact age, but he had existed before I was turned, and judging by the slow blistering and crisping of his skin, the bubbling of his eyes as they oozed out of his sockets over close to an hour, he'd been old enough.

When the sun had finished the job around 9 a.m., leaving behind the charred and brittle remains of his bones, I stomped them into a fine debris, kicking the dust into the merciful breeze to scatter in the wind over the city. Even with the vast scientific resources the vampires had at their disposal, they'd have one hell of a time finding even a single particle of his remains.

But my job hadn't been over yet. I also had to remove all evidence of his presence in my apartment. I'd spent the next day scrubbing the floor, walls, and doors with bleach, peroxide, and enzyme solutions to rid all traces of blood and fingerprints. Then I burned both mine and Piper's clothes from the night before, again on the roof.

While it had been exhausting work, I knew there was no possible way any forensics team, vampire or not, would find proof that Solomon had ever encountered us.

That didn't ease my suspicions of why Hadrian had sent for us with such priority.

"Julian," Piper said, bringing me back to the present. "I want out."

"What?"

Outside of her singular comment that night after she'd killed Solomon, she hadn't voiced any further doubts since. I'd chalked it up to her just having been spooked and that she'd gotten over it.

"I thought I wanted this," she went on, looking down at her lap. "Eternal life, power, heightened intelligence, resources to help the world…" She shook her head. "But I don't. I don't believe in it anymore. I don't want to be a monster like them. I don't want to treat other humans the way I've been treated."

I merely nodded. I didn't know what to tell her. Hadrian would not let her go so easily. He wasn't in the business of letting Initiates leave the program with vampire secrets, except in a coffin. But Piper wasn't just any Initiate. She was his lead genetics researcher. He wasn't beyond chaining her to a lab desk and force-feeding her through a tube if he had to.

She crawled across the floor to kneel in front of me, where I sat in my wooden chair, clasping her hands up in a pleading gesture. "Please get me out. I'll do whatever it takes."

The terror and desperation in her eyes broke my heart, and I wondered how I'd come to care about this strange woman. "There might be a way. The man you met the other night, Caesar. He runs the shifter school, and he's been my friend for many years. I might be able to convince him to give you sanctuary. He might find your scientific skills useful."

The despair in her gaze brightened to hope, and she suddenly took my hand with both of hers. "Yes. Yes! I would love that!"

I held up my free hand. "Hold on, it's not that simple. I need to discuss the matter with him, and that will take time." Especially considering that he and I were at odds at the moment. "Time we don't have right now. I'm afraid there's no option that doesn't see you coming back to Heritage Prep with me."

Her shoulders sagged, her eyes darkening again as they misted over with tears.

"I promise I will do whatever I can to ensure your safe relocation," I vowed. "But right now, we have a jet to catch."

* * *

As Hadrian glared at me across the conference table in his trophy room, I couldn't help noticing a few new prizes mounted to the wall. The vampire leader was stroking one of them—a long black tail that I could only assume had belonged to a mao. The tail reminded me of Rainbow, who I'd left behind in Chicago. I highly doubted Hadrian would be happy to discover such a creature, and I really didn't want to explain its origins.

"I warned you what would happen if you failed me in snatching Arya," Hadrian said casually as if he were talking about the weather.

"As I told you on the phone, the subway station is far too dangerous to be around," I replied, keeping my eyes on Hadrian. "Human hunters are swarming like hornets at that staircase."

A cruel smile formed on his face. "You know, most vampires would have died trying to complete their assigned mission. But not you." He gently tapped a finger against my chest. "Some would say that's cowardice. But you're no coward. You're a survivor. You always have been."

I wished he'd just get on with it. If Hadrian wanted to sentence me to three years of drowning, then so be it. Perhaps by then, Shea might have moved on, found the resurrection spell for Alice.

If Shea survived the next three years, that is. Hadrian had yet to confront me about her, which made me think that Solomon and the Initiate, Adam, had not reported everything back to Heritage Prep. At least, that's what I hoped.

Hadrian chuckled, and I shuffled my feet as I returned my attention back to the vampire leader.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't turn into a fugitive after I requested you return." Hadrian placed a hand on my shoulder. "And now that you're here, I know I shouldn't be shocked to find you unapologetic for your failures." His smile disappeared, and his eyes narrowed, all humor erased from his features. "I'm used to begging and pleading for mercy when my followers are unsuccessful in their missions."

I felt no fear at Hadrian's words. If he intended to kill me, I'd already be dead.

He removed his hand and turned his back on me as he analyzed his trophies again.

"I have spent enough time around you to know you don't dole out second chances," I said. "But you allowed me to return once before, and for some reason, you're letting me return again."

Faster than a blur, Hadrian moved. He wasn't the typical vampire—he was an inheritor of one of the ancient sire lines, which meant his abilities were even more enhanced.

I didn't have time to react and felt my ribs crack as Hadrian's palm slammed into my chest. The momentum lifted me into the air and flung me across the room. I went crashing hard into one of the stone walls, knocking a few shifter body parts off in the process.

I hurt all over, but the internal pain that burned within me was excruciating. I tried to inhale, but my body refused to let me. I guessed he'd punctured a lung.

Moments later, I felt relief flood in as my body mended itself. Bones snapped back into place, and flesh restitched like water rapidly freezing into ice.

Slowly, I rolled over and got to my feet.

"Consider that your punishment for failure," Hadrian said, wiping his hands together as if he'd just taken out the trash. He shook his head. "You're one-of-a-kind, Julian. But you could be so much more."

I felt at my pocket, ensuring Alice's brooch was still there. As much relief as my body had just been through regenerating, it was nothing compared to the comfort I received feeling the outline of the metal through my slacks.

With a glance at the trophies I'd knocked off the wall, I said, "Sorry about your harpy talon collection. I'm afraid I crushed a set."

Hadrian snorted, lifting a hand in disbelief. "You apologize for breaking replaceable talons but not your inability to bring me my daughter?"

"That was an impossible task," I said, doing my best to prepare for another punch. Nobody talked back to Hadrian. But I was sick of dancing around him. And again, if he wanted to kill me, I wouldn't still be breathing.

"Impossible for the incapable, perhaps," Hadrian said, approaching me again with narrowed eyes. "Quite possible for the capable. Have you ever heard the cliché ‘If I want something done right, I'll do it myself'? It applies to the mission regarding my daughter. I'll see to her capture personally, which means the task is no longer yours."

I didn't know how to respond. Hadrian rarely let his followers just hang around the school, and I was sure that would not be the case for me. I still wasn't sure exactly what he knew.

"What does that mean for me?" I finally asked as I straightened my black jacket. I wondered if the crushed talons had punctured the back of it. That would just be my damned luck.

Hadrian studied me for a few moments—about three feet away this time. The space between us brought me a modicum of comfort.

"I have another assignment for you," Hadrian said at last.

Turning to the side, I followed his eyes to the two sets of wide wings mounted above the doorway of the trophy room. Gryphon wings. The smaller set was white feathered, while the larger was a deep, dark brown.

Does he know about my contact with Caesar?

"Back in Chicago?" I asked, hiding my hopefulness. Although I didn't consider Chicago home , my greatest hopes were there.

Hadrian chuckled, returning his gaze back to me. "Old friend, you are done with Chicago for a while. Your new mission is something of a more personal nature."

I kept my gaze steady, but I didn't like the sound of that.

"We've received intelligence about a flock of gryphons that has been spotted."

"A flock of gryphons?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "The last sighting of gryphons was on Framboise Island seven years ago. And you killed all but one of them."

"Indeed, I did," Hadrian said, looking back up at his precious trophies. "So, you can imagine how badly I'd love to add the wings of an entire flock to my collection."

Caesar would kill for this information. The wings on the wall belonged to his parents. Throughout our meetings over the years, Caesar had explained everything, and that he was still going out on expeditions during his summers looking for more of his kind. The poor gryphon had never found any and had admitted to me that he was beginning to think he was the last gryphon on earth.

Instead of exuding wonder, I sighed heavily. "How accurate are these reports? Will I be chasing ghosts?"

"They're accurate enough for me to send you to investigate," Hadrian replied without hesitation.

"And what do I do if these reports prove to be true? Do I move to engage?"

Again, he laughed wickedly. "If you seek your own death, then by all means."

I had only ever fought against one gryphon before, and that was Caesar. During the attack on the school at Framboise Island, the young gryphon had entered a store Marguerite and I had camped out at. It had been a trap, but Caesar and his friend managed to escape. And even then, I hadn't seen the full force of the gryphon's attacks. But Hadrian had.

"So, whether I find gryphons or not, I should return and report?" I clarified.

Hadrian nodded.

"And where have these sightings been? Where will I be going?"

"Not far, actually," he replied as he started pacing the room again. "The sightings have been in Yukon, Canada. In the mountains."

"Sounds cold," I said, skeptical.

"And snowy, especially this time of year," Hadrian added. "Yukon is home to the highest-elevated mountain in Canada, called Mount Logan. Our reports indicate that the gryphons have been seen circling it."

"Do they live on the mountain?" I had a hard time believing any creature would force themselves to dwell in such an unlivable place.

He shrugged. "Who knows? They could be living in one of the small townships. There's only one actual city in Yukon, and they could be there, too."

"So, I'm to search the city and towns, as well as the mountains?"

He smirked. "That's what I would do, yes."

It seemed easy enough. I had been assigned a similar task back when I'd first joined Hadrian. The former shifter school had eluded Hadrian and his followers for years, and I had been assigned the task of finding it. I'd been successful in that mission, and I'd regretted it ever since, as Hadrian had destroyed it. If I found gryphons in Yukon, I'd never admit it to Hadrian.

"Is Piper assigned to come along with me?" An expedition like this could give her the perfect out. We could fake her death.

Hadrian shook his head. "No. I need her expertise here at the school. We're on the verge, Julian. The day of the vampire-shifter hybrid is near."

His eyes lit as he spoke, as if he could see his dream just inches away.

I set my jaw. Hadrian was mad. Such an abominable goal had to be stopped. The question was, would Arya fulfill the shifter prophecy before Hadrian's hybrids came to be?

"Where will that put people like us?" I asked.

The light in Hadrian's eyes snuffed out, and he gave me a hard look. "People like us?"

I shrugged. "Average vampires with standard abilities. When your hybrids come waltzing in, they will crush us."

Hadrian laughed loudly as he made his way back to me. "If you elect not to become a hybrid, that's your own choice. But I would advise you to start considering which shifter powers you'd like added to your compendium of current abilities."

"I will think on that," I said, lying through my teeth.

A knock sounded at the door of the trophy room.

"Enter!" Hadrian boomed, turning around.

The door opened inward, and I saw a young, dark-haired boy—the same nine or ten-year-old I'd seen embracing Hadrian the last time I was here—sheepishly step inside.

I cast a look at Hadrian, finding the vampire leader's features warm and soft.

"I've lost track of the time!" Hadrian said excitedly, then looked back at me. "You may begin your mission now, Julian. I have other responsibilities I must see to."

I bowed ever so slightly. "Of course. I'll return as soon as I've learned more about these gryphon sightings."

Having to walk past the boy at the doorway, I gave him a half smile. The child returned the gesture with a chilling glare. What terrible plans was Hadrian involving such a young child in?

Pushing myself out of the trophy room, I decided I needed some fresh air rather urgently.

Exiting the school, I went down the stairs at an easy pace, then began to hike the northern mountains. It was evening, and although there were clouds, I could see patches of the night sky glittering with stars.

I had a call to make, and I couldn't afford to be overheard. Once I felt confident with the distance up the easy climb, I pulled out my phone and dialed Caesar's emergency number, hoping the gryphon was in a position to talk—and that he would even answer me after what happened with Shea.

After several buzzes, I heard Caesar's gruff voice on the other end.

"What?" His tone was hard to read, but the reply itself was less friendly than usual.

"I have urgent news for you."

"About Hadrian and his plans?" His tone immediately lost its hostility and became urgent.

"No," I said quickly. "There've been sightings of a flock of gryphons."