Jenny looked into her cup of coffee as Audrey told Michael what had happened, not wanting to see his face. Sneaking a look, she found him staring at her, incredulous.
"You're telling me the guy who tried to kill us has been reincarnated and you're his soulmate?!" Mike's voice was high-pitched in it's shock.
"No. I'm telling you the guy that died for us has been reincarnated." Jenny made herself at least appear calm, even though she was as amazed as Micheal - though in a rather happier way. It had been about four hours since Julian smashed thru the window. They had helped the servants clean up the mess, and had been in the kitchen since. Ash had come down, checked they were all okay before going to do whatever protecting he had to do. Now Jenny was trying to explain to her friends about what had happened to Julian when she hardly knew anything herself.
"First of all, I get told that my girlfriends a witch - which isn't neccessarily bad, if the whole magic thing really works," he raised his eyebrows and grinned, making it clear what sort of magic he meant. Audrey rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "And now the biggest psycho in my life is reincarnated - but not the only one, 'cause Ross Perot counts too. Not to mentio-" He stopped abruptly, staring at the door with wide puppy-dog eyes, then frowned angrily. "Speak of the devil."
"If you like," Julian said, smiling sheepishly and looking gorgeous. He'd had a shower and his hair was in a just-got-out-of-bed style that looked wonderful. Most of the wounds on his face had healed, just one still obvious, leaving a scar. Mrs. Myers had given him one of Micheal's sweaters since his own top had been wrecked, and it was too short for him, leaving a tantalising flash of toned stomach visible. He'd kept his own jeans, cut though they were by the glass, and all in all the odd outfit suited him. His eyes changed to an ice-pale blue and he walked over to the counter where the kettle stood. "Is it alright if I have a coffee?" He glanced at Audrey, who nodded, looking bewildered. After pouring the drink, he sat next to Jenny, looking at her for a few seconds, seeming to push whatever he thought of saying away.
"I..." He trailed off, and looked into his coffee, as though all the answers to lifes questions could be found there. Then he looked up, looking terrified and guilty. "I'm sorry." He looked at each person on the table, eyes resting on Jenny. "I'm so sorry. I don't suppose that means much." His lips twisted into an ironic smile. "But I am. I didn't want any of this," he tapped his head to indicate the memories. "But they're there, and I guess they've helped me in fighting the bad guys." He shrugged. "So I guess the pain's worth it. Not to mention the fact I deserve it." He looked down at his coffee again. Jenny but her hand on his, felt a delightful, warm link spring into place, felt his guilt and surprise at the bond between them.
"I forgive you, Julian. I knew you'd changed then, and even more so now."
He smiled warmly, and entwined his fingers with hers. "I thought I'd imagined it."
"Imagined what?" Michael asked, eyes narrowing.
"The soulmate thing. A link. A bond." Julian gazed into Jenny's eyes and smiled, feeling her joy. "The feeling that you've come home. The feeling that you've found that which you've been searching for for six thousand years." That last came out as a whisper. Moving a lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes, Jenny nodded, letting him feel her total agreement.
"Well, I suppose you had better tell us why we should place our lives in your hands," Audrey asked, looking fiercely at him. He merely gave a grin that was a shadow of his former wolf-smile, and brought his hands together, nodding.
"Alright, then. My name's Julian Harmen-Redfern."
"But call him Ju-Ju. He loves that," Ash said as he came in and sat next to his cousin, mussing his hair. Julian play-punched Ash in the arm, earning him a mock hurt look.
"No, I don't. But call me J, or Jules-"
"Or Ju-Ju."
"But not Ju-Ju. The only ppl who can get away with calling me that is my mother, Ash, his sisters, Thea and Illiana. Uh, those last two are cousins."
"You see, for those not in with the Night World know, J is half vamp, half witch, from the two most powerful families either side. Who don't get on."
Audrey's eyes widened. "You... You're him. Obsidian Redfern raped Deanna Harmen, and she bore a son. That's one of the main reasons for our split from the Night World." She sounded as though she could hardly beleive it, her wide eyes <> this.
Julian's eyes went dark, and the guilty look returned. "Yeah. That's me." He shook his head. "Believe me, I didn't have any say in the manner of my rebirth, or that would _not_ have been it. Odin always had an odd sense of humour."
Micheal gave a choking sound. "Odin? We talking about the same guy here? Norse boss god? You've _seen_ him?!"
Julian smiled, highly amused by their discomfort. "Yes. He granted me a second chance. This body because I needed a powerful one that could cope with the memories. And because I still deserved to suffer for what I'd done. Also, of course, because they wanted to make sure I'd be brought up beleiving in them. Apparently they wanted me to help out in the Millenium battle."
Ash explained what Julian meant, obviously having heard all this before from his life-long friend. "The blood-lust makes him suffer, and the witches brought him up beleiving in all the gods. Kinda crafty of them really."
Gazing languidly over at him, Julian smiled. "Odin is meant to be crafty. It's his trademark. Anyway. I remembered who I was when I was fifteen. It was way too much." He held up the arm to show the scar running down his wrist. "I tried to stop it the only way I could think of. But Mom saved me, and after I recovered, I joined Daybreak. No-one really believed me until Theorn-"
"Thierry, first made vampire and Night World elder," Ash put in helpfuly.
"Yeah, Theorn recognised me. I met him in the time of the Egyptians - when I was young and he was already ancient, just so you know that by Night World standards I'm not too odd."
"Yeah, you are, l'il buddy," Ash mussed his hair again, and Julian gave him A Look. Standing, he looked at his reflection in the window, sorted his hair out, then sat again. "What I think J means is that we have dragons, soulmates - all the Old Powers are rising again, so J's just another odd thing to add to the list. O' course, he's been really handy to Thierry. When he's not busy revising."
"It's not my fault astronomy's so bloody hard," he muttered, and Micheal shook his head.
"So, the guy who tried to kill us is now a half-vampire, half-witch, who's going to help out in some battle?" Mike looked mindblown, and Jenny felt about ready to join him. To find that all this had happened to him, on top of the knowledge of the Night World in itself was a bit much.
"The Millenium battle," Ash added, helpfully. "The vampires want to rule the world, basically. It's up to Circle Daybreak, and the Wild Powers to stop them."
Micheal looked at him, frazzled, and Julian smiled. "I think we should stop there, Ash. I think they've had enough of the Night World update now."
"Yeah," said Micheal. "More than." He then looked up at Julian. "Did you say you think astronomy's hard?" Finding this very human, teenage thing hard to beleive.
Julian nodded, waving a hand over his head. "Special relativity in particular. And equations. I hate maths." He shrugged. "But you gotta do it. I guess it doesn't really matter, since I won't be going to college."
"And you'll ace in everything else?" Ash pointed out. Julian threw a sceptical glance at him, then stood.
"I need to go check everything's okay with the 'field." He paused, then smiled at Jenny. "Would you come with me? We'll be inside, so we'll be safe."
Jenny stood, glad to go with him, as long as the whole mind-blowing lecture was over. She didn't want to be told anything for the next week. "Of course," she held his hand and they wandered out of the kitchen."