The Devil's Shadow | The Empty World Sequence

Twenty-One

New York City, circa 1995 AD.

The Necropolis became home to the lot of them, though, it did seem at first they might all kill each other. Julien and Louis did not get along. They fought whenever together. Joy allowed herself to become something like a possession to Julien. She and Louis were somewhat jealous of each other. Faye and Min didn't like being forgotten. Robert was finding Joy distracting; Blade was angered by it. There was no peace.

Julien had fed once, from Joy, and not killed her and after that Louis would take him out to feed, but every time Julien saw the dead body laying before him he vomited the entire amount of blood he had just drank, and then seeing he had just vomited he would go into fits of panic and become uncontrollable. Louis wasn't tolerating him well, he resorted to hitting Julien, but that only made Julien curse Louis and stop speaking to him.

Joy wanted to feed Julien, but Robert and Louis both insisted she was yet too weak. Robert would sit on the beige sofa trying to watch videos but was distracted every time Julien and Louis chose to wrestle on, or scream across, the floor in front of him.

Someone had sent a bouquet of lilies with a note that read: Psyche won't be able to bother you for a very long time. Z.

And then Robert felt sad for Zerachiel. He knew that she and Psyche had been close for a while, it must have been hard to punish Psyche.

Still Julien kept mentioning Psyche in arguments, saying she was right. He kept insisting that there was nothing between him and Louis because Louis had faked it all, which of course hurt Louis because he hadn't really faked all of it. "If I hear the words 'Do you love me?' pass you lips I'll slap you again!" Louis would shout. And Julien already knew Louis could slap very hard.

Louis had found time, when Julien was at either of the penthouses, to clean out the room hidden behind the vault (Joy had helped carry the fifty years worth of comic books down to a lower room) and decorate it for Julien. Louis even built the bed himself, though carpet and mattress he said had fallen off trucks. The walls he covered in paintings of Julien. Julien moved in, forgot to hate Louis for a second as he kissed him in thanks for the shrine. But he remembered to hate Louis when the next pang of hunger hit.

Julien believed he was a vampire, but only because Joy said he was. He believed he was whatever sort of vampire she might draw on popular fiction to describe. He kept saying it was not magic only viral, and Robert was inclined to agree and told Julien so. Robert had feared that it would be difficult to make Julien believe the truth without causing madness in him as had happened with Blade, but Joy made it all very easy.

Julien listened to everything she said, lay in his bed touching her, thinking her warm, kissing her everywhere but on the mouth, and well, never her sex either, and the breasts only teasingly. But Julien wouldn't ever listen to a word Louis said. That is until the night Louis understood that what Julien was bothered by was the fact they had sex hundreds of times and Louis had felt nothing.

"Nothing?" Louis had said, waited for Joy's giggle, "We'll see about nothing, you come with me." All one had to do to impress Joy was be cute and able to recite quotations from many vampire novels.

Julien had left with him, and when they came back, they were giggling and appeared best of friends. Julien was a much healthier color and even kissed Louis. It was obvious that they had gone somewhere and that Louis and some Human person had convinced Julien that Vampyres do feel something when they are close with Humans. But because being with Joy hadn't helped Julien understand that Louis hadn't just cruelly faked an entire relationship the others all guessed there must have been some boy of their acquaintance involved.