In the early morning hours Vulpes realized the reason for his obsession. Julia wasn't uniquely remarkable looking, she wasn't funny, or even the smartest woman he'd ever met, but she was amazing when it came to people. Anyone he talked to who recognized him as the man who came into town with Julia, and had a story about how she'd helped them. It seems that the small colony that now resided in The Divide existed for the soul reason that Julia had gone out of her way to supply it. Few people hadn't benefited, even indirectly, from her hard work. Not that she hadn't profited from her endeavors, but it seemed the girl had strength when it came to leading people and the kind of golden heart you wanted your leader to have.
At first he just dismissed her as another conquest, one more human being to be brought to their rightful place for the glory of Caesar. These wasteland wastrels never knew their true potential until they were purged of the ugly vice that occupied the core of their souls. He thought of Julia put in her place, humbled before him, while his body swelled with the arousal caused by such power, and yet he couldn't imagine meeting her potential as another slave in the Legion. She obviously had a purpose beyond servitude, some dark fate that had yet to be fully woven. Perhaps it was the line between servant and monster that he walked daily for his master, but Vulpes felt in tune with the nature of dark omens.
Walking down the halls to his hotel suite, Vulpes heard a soft lilting laughter come from Julia's room, followed by the booming echo of a male voice. It was unmistakable, the air around what was happening inside. He could almost smell the sweat off of their bodies, mixing together with the dry air of the desert to carry their carnal sins to his attention.
"Whore," was the worst that first sprung into his mind, but he quickly shoved it down. She wasn't a whore, Julia couldn't be this debased willfully. No, she would give herself to who she loved with a great freedom and zest, but she'd never cheapen herself for money or status. That's why she would someday be a great person; integrity is sold so cheap in this world, but for people like her the idea that it could be traded for money was a foreign concept.
He walked into his room and ran his hand down the decaying stucco wall, feeling where the crevices of the puttied on material move like the curve of where her hips connected to her lower back. He squeezed his hands, the dry fleshy nubs of his fingers rubbing against the palms of his hands, making a soft sibilant sound. He imagined the boys neck between his cool dry fingers, the bug eyed fear that filled his eyes, and the limp pant shitting moment when he snapped the youth's vertebrae and left him dead on the floor. Julia's tears would be thick and wet droplets, running down her face with their chubby fluidity.
He'd take her then. It was hard to think about. She was the kind of girl you'd have to sample before you know what she'd be like. He could hear them now through the wall, sounding like they were putting their clothes on and getting ready to go out. Holding his breath as his heard her door open, he turned his head only slightly as a knock came on his hotel room door, and he bade whomever enter with daggers in his voice.
"Hey Alan," Julia said, her cheeks still flushed with heat. He wanted to shake the rose color out of her. "Barry and I just wanted to know if you'd like to go out to dinner with us. I told him how you're helping me out, and he can't wait to meet you."
Vulpes saw the dark haired young man standing behind her in the hall, his face watching his shoes with nervous tension. They locked eyes for a second and Vulpes felt the full conformation of everything he's suspected. This was a first love. Young love. The kind of thing they told stories about in the pre-war days.
"I'd love to," he responded, returning the look from Barry, with a cocky defiance that seemed to shake the young man.
Like a suave gentleman of old, Vulpes took the arm of Julia, leading her down the hall while he asked her about her day and pretended like the young man wasn't behind them. He listened patiently as the young woman prattled on about a million insignificant things, most of them involving her and Barry spending time with each other. He made note of the parts that seemed worth remembering, but it wasn't a lot. Julia's life was fairly uncomplicated and really she was just hanging around here so she could spend time with Barry while she waited for another job.
The threesome ended up in a small restaurant with a pretty typical bar for a small settlement this far from bigger towns or supply routes. The menu was a few stews, over priced big horner and Brahman meat, and a drink choice of home brewed whiskey, beer, or well water. Making a selection he was fairly sure he'd end up disliking, Vulpes settled back in his chair and watched as the two moon eyed people across from him circled around each other like pair satellites around the earth. It amused him, in the way watching fish swim in a stream amused some people, and then a grim looking messenger stepped into the bar and ended the quite dinner.
A man in a long tattered brown trench coat and a pair of well worn leather boots made his way through the room like the angel of death. Standing across the table from Julia, he looked down at her with a somber familiarity and turned his head from the young woman.
"What is it?" Julia asked, the anticipation of terror causing the blood to drain from her lips.
"Your mother," the man paused and said, "I'm sorry."
"Are you sure? My mother?" Julia sputtered as if she was both afraid and yet hopeful he was wrong. "What's wrong with my mother."
"She was found dead in your house Julia," the man responded, "It looked like she shot herself. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. I took off this way to tell you just about half a day after you left, but I was caught in a dust storm and had to take shelter. She's in the ground by now, I'm sorry."
"Why would my mother kill herself?" Julia asked with her eyes big and full of tears. "She was fine when I left."
"I'm sorry," was all the man could say. Then again like a ghost bemoaning his fate he said it again, "I'm sorry."
Julia's heart had broken the second the man had given her the news. She had a thousand questions, trying to understand why her mother had ended her own life. Vulpes placed a comforting arm around the courier, letting her cry gently into his chest. The older man then cast a humored glance at the younger one sitting across from him, forcing a weary look from Barry, who was alarmed by the older man's ministrations.
"Let's get you home and away from this crowd," Vulpes said, leaving a few caps on the table and helping Julia up slowly.
Barry scurried around the table, placing his arm around Julia too, making uncomfortable contact with the Legionary who smiled at the boy with his eyes in a way that gave Barry uncomfortable pause. The younger man pulled away and walked quietly behind the crying girl and his rival, a little afraid of the predatory look he'd just received from Vulpes. Once at the hotel, Barry scurried to the bed and held Julia as she cried and sat on the edge of the crumpled bed.
Securing the door and informing the desk staff that Julia's mother had passed away and that they need not worry about crying. The Legionary was pleased to find out they were the only people on their floor. Rejoining the couple in the room, Vulpes found the two hovering over the edge of the bed and leaned against the wall and watched the misery that passed over the face of the object of his obsession mourn.
"Did you know anything about this?" Julia said, as she looked over to Vulpes, something pleading in her eyes.
"When I left her she had a .22 and a nasty rattle snake bite," Vulpes responded with coolness to his voice that felt like a slap in Julia's face. "I can't say I'm surprised at the outcome."
"You knew this whole time and didn't say anything?" Julia cursed as she stood up to face Vulpes, her anger showing, stirring Vulpes' lust for her even more.
"When I left she was dying," Vulpes said. "For all I knew she crawled to a medic and got help. Not that any medic's can really help with rattle snake poison; we weren't with the Brotherhood of Steel. So as you can see, taking her own life probably saved your mothers hours if not days of agony."
"You should have taken her to a medic," Barry said, now standing to face the Legionary who had forgotten the boy's existence until this second. "What kind of a friend are you?"
"I'm not the kind of man people like you would want to befriend," Vulpes responded as he took a large step forward, and before Julia or Barry could react, he twisted the man's head between his hands and the boy fell to the floor with a broken neck.
It took Julia a few seconds to realize what had happened before she inhaled deeply and started to scream. Vulpes was on top of her immediately, his hands over her mouth. The girl bucked against him, kicking her legs out as if she hoped to somehow fight her way out of the Legionaries embrace. It was no good, he was significantly stronger, and before she could drive her foot home to any place that might serve to disable him for a few seconds, she felt something hard come down on her head and render her unconscious.