Shifters Rule (Rule Series) (12 page)

Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears and her face crumpled.
 
Covering her mouth with a hand, she jumped up from the chair.
 
“Give me a second, please.”

She darted away from the table and stood next to the breakfast bar.
 
Her slender shoulders shook with silent sobs.
 
With a grimace Ian tossed his napkin and rose from his chair.
 
He went to her and put his arms around her for a moment.
 
Jack and Silver exchanged concerned glances.
 
Vanessa recovered quickly.
 
The two adults returned to the table together.

Ian pulled her chair out.
 
She sat down, flashing him a quick smile of gratitude.
 
Turning to her daughter, she said, “Where were we?”

“We were talking about moving in with Jack and Ian.”

“I’m just not sure if it’s a good idea, honey.
 
I’ll think about it.”

Jack and Silver exchanged another quick glance.
 
They were both okay with the idea of sleeping under the same roof again.
 
He knew from things Silver said in the past she felt safer with him down the hall—or better yet, in the same bed.
 
He could tell she wanted to urge her mother to give into Ian’s invitation.
 
But Jack worried Vanessa might go the other way if she felt she was being pushed.

Jack interrupted Silver as she opened her mouth, before she got a single syllable out.

“We should put our heads together and figure out how
Jersey
is getting inside, don’t you think?
 
I’d sure like to know how he keeps disappearing.”

“Me too,” Silver said.
 
“Werewolves can’t just vanish into thin air.
 
How is he doing it?”

“Maybe your friend Lovely equipped him with more powers than she wrote about in her diary.”

“Lovely didn’t give him powers, period.
 
She cursed him.
 
Any powers he has were a negative side-effect and not part of the original plan.”

“When he comes into my dreams, he has the power to disappear.
 
Maybe he’s found a way to take it to the next level and do it while awake.”

Ian broke into their conversation with, “Even if that were true, it doesn’t explain how he got past the spells.”

“Maybe he popped in,” Jack suggested.
 
“Disappearing might work both ways.
 
If he can vanish into thin air, then he can appear out of nothing.
 
What’s so hard to believe?
 
We saw it with our own eyes.
 
Twice.
 
He has a new power.
 
Deal with it.”

“There is no such power.”
 
Ian’s dark eyes narrowed on Jack’s face.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because if there was such a power, my father would have been the first to discover it.
 
You should thank your lucky stars that he cannot simply appear anywhere he wants.”

Vanessa frowned.
 
“I’ve never heard you mention your father before.”

Ian got up from the table and walked away without another word.
 
Vanessa, mouth open, turned to look at Jack.
 
He returned her gaze with a blank stare.
 
If she was waiting for him to explain Ian’s abrupt departure or tell her about Ian’s notorious father, she was going to be disappointed.

Silver shot him a quick, reassuring look before speaking to her mom.
 
“Can we please move in here for a while?
 
I feel safe when I’m here.
 
Don’t you?”

Vanessa sighed.
 
Her head slowly moved up and down in a reluctant nod.
 
“I do.
 
Of course I do.”
 
She patted Silver’s hand where it rested on the table near her plate.
 
“We’ll stay for a while if that’s what you want.”

“It is.”
 
Silver shared a huge smile with both her mom and Jack.
 
It was the first time he’d seen that particular smile since her father died.
 
She wiped her mouth on a napkin and said, “Do you mind if Jack drives me home now so I can pack?”

“I guess it would be okay.
 
Do it fast.
 
If
Jersey
appears, I want you to call for us while Jack is dealing with him.”

Silver kissed her mom on the cheek.
 
She jumped up and motioned for Jack to follow her out.
 
They passed Ian on their way to the door.
 
He wore the familiar disapproving scowl he reserved for Jack alone.
 
His eyes moved to Silver and he managed a small smile.
 

Ian adjusted his tie while addressing them.
 
“Where are you two off to now?”

“We’re going to my house so I can pack,” Silver replied.
 
“Mom gave in.
 
We’re moving in for a while.”

“Glad to hear it.”
 
His dark eyes went to Jack.
 
“It’s late.
 
Perhaps you should wait until Vanessa and I can join you.”

“We aren’t five,” Silver said.
 
A wry smile played across her lips.
 
“Jack and I can take care of ourselves.
 
We’ll be fine.”

“Please don’t forget the whole reason you’re moving in here.
 
Jersey Clifford is still on the loose.
 
Then there’s Billy to worry about.
 
He was here earlier today and attacked Jack.
 
If I hadn’t arrived when I did, there’s no telling what would have happened.”

Silver’s eyes widened.
 
“Billy attacked you again?”

“It was no big deal.”
 
He shuffled from one foot to the other, increasingly uncomfortable with the concern etched on her pretty face.
 
He didn’t want her to worry about him.
 
She had enough on her mind already.
 
He added, “Billy and I were just talking.”

.

*****

.

Ian made a rude noise.
 
“Talking?
 
Is that what you call it?
 
I suppose Billy brought a bat with him because he wanted to entice you into a game of baseball.”

“A bat?”
 
Silver’s eyes traveled from Jack to Ian and back again.
 
“Did he try to bash your head in with a bat?”

“He wasn’t seriously trying to hurt me.
 
The two of us had an interesting conversation.
 
I figured out why he goes nuts when he’s around me.”

Ian folded his arms over his chest.
 
“Is that a fact?
 
Please tell us then.
 
I am most certainly interested in hearing why Billy has bats in his belfry, no pun intended.”

Jack’s hand clenched into a tight fist.
 
He would love nothing better than to smash the fist into Ian’s smug face.
 
But he wasn’t going to do anything to further upset Silver.
 
She’d been through enough.
 
Changing the subject, he asked her, “Have you heard from Trina yet?
 
I was hoping she’d call to tell you Cowboy has dumped her.”

“Cowboy?”
 
Ian intruded on their private conversation once again.
 
“Isn’t he one of your old vampire friends?”

Jack ignored his uncle.
 
His gaze remained on Silver’s face, waiting for an answer to his question.
 
Although he’d asked in order to draw her away from the subject of Billy, he truly wanted to know.
 
Cowboy could double-cross him.
 
It wouldn’t be the first time.
 

“No,” Silver said.
 
“I haven’t heard a thing.
 
I’m hoping she’s at home crying her eyes out.
 
I know it’s a mean thing to say, but I’d rather have her sad for a little while than living as a vampire forever.”

“I second that motion.”

“Poor Trina.
 
He was her first real boyfriend, you know?
 
Her first love.
 
I hope it doesn’t take her long to get over it.”
 
Silver’s distressed blue eyes met his.
 
“Maybe I should call her and ask about him.”

Jack shook his head firmly.
 
“If you do that, then she’ll know we put him up to it.
 
She’ll chase after him.”

“I guess.”

Jack opened the front door for her.
 
“We’d better hurry and get your stuff before it gets too late.
 
Your mom and Ian will insist on joining us if we don’t go now.”

Ian scowled at him.

And that would pile another brick of tension on the wall because Ian would be glaring at him the entire time.
 
Every second away from the man was another second he got to breathe with ease.
 
He made up his mind to drive slowly.
 
It would be great to get out of the house and away from Ian for a while.
 
He and Silver walked to his car.
 
The peaceful feeling it conjured didn’t last long.

Someone was watching them.
 
Jack felt the eyes burning a hole into his back.
 
He didn’t look around for the source.
 
He didn’t want to alert Silver to it.
 
She’d probably want to investigate.
 

Possible candidates floated through his head like a never-ending parade.
 
Billy could be watching him from some place in the field or beside the barn.
 
His brother could be considering another attack.
 
Jersey
was next on the list.
 
The lead werewolf was drawn to him like a moth to a fiery flame.
 
Or it could be Blanca.
 
Of course, he might not know it was her.
 
She could be disguised as someone else.
 
It could also be his old nemesis
Blaine
.
 
The Albino Vampire remained at large and probably still wanted to rip Jack into tiny pieces.

Jack slammed on the brake halfway down the drive.
 
Silver flew forward.
 
The seatbelt caught her before she could hit the dashboard.
 
She shot a glare at him.
 
He was too stunned to notice.
 
An epiphany repeated over and over in his head.
 
Why hadn’t he seen it before?

“What’s wrong?” Silver asked.

“I am such an idiot.”

She laughed.
 
“Okay.
 
Why are you an idiot?”

“
Jersey
doesn’t have a new power.
 
He didn’t knock me down the stairs, and he didn’t attack me in the mansion.
 
It was Blanca pretending to be him.
 
I knew something was off about him.
 
He didn’t talk the same, didn’t act the same, and he seemed real surprised to hear he’d given me back the necklace.”

“Can Blanca disappear?”

“No.”
 
Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
 
His insides boiled with the fiery rage of an erupting volcano.
 
He forced himself to calm down.
 
“She didn’t disappear.
 
She turned herself into something small and scurried away.”

Silver shouted, “The mouse!
 
She turned herself into a freaking mouse and scared my mom half to death.
 
Ooh, I can’t wait to get my hands on that shape-shifting cat.”

Jack said a silent prayer he would get to Blanca first.
 
Even though she was as easy to kill as a human, his former cat was a shrewd fighter.
 
It was possible she could pretend to be Vanessa again and kill Silver.
 
No matter what, he couldn’t let that happen.
 
If Blanca was going to die, it would be at his hands.

.

*****

Chapter Ten:

TRADING FACES

.

.

“Do you want to take
this
with you?”
 
Jack held up a stuffed bear.
 
It was the ugliest thing he’d ever seen.
 
With one eye missing, spots void of fur, and a purple stain on its light brown chest, Jack surmised it was probably as old as Silver.
 
Her mouth opened on a soft gasp.
 
She tried to snatch it from his hand.
 
Laughing, he held it high above her head.
 
Not hard to do since she was so tiny.
 

“Give me back Mr. Turtle.”

“You named this thing Mr. Turtle?”
 
He turned it around to get a good look at its scruffy face.
 
Stating the obvious, he said, “This is a bear.”

“I know that.”
 
She grabbed it and put some distance between them so he couldn’t snatch it again.
 
Standing by the window, she cuddled it in her arms and smiled down at it.
 
“I was only four when my dad got it for me, and I was totally fascinated with turtles.”

Jack tried hard to contain the laughter.
 
It was a losing battle.
 
He could picture her as a little girl running around with a bear she insisted on calling Mr. Turtle.
 
A new sensation hit him like a tidal wave.
 
He wondered what their children would look like if they lived long enough to get married.
 
Would they have a baby girl, a miniature Silver?

An emotional lump lodged in his throat.
 
He realized with sudden clarity that he actually wanted to have children with Silver.
 
He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
 
But what if she didn’t feel the same?
 
What if she went to college and found someone else?

For the first time since eavesdropping on her conversation about wanting to marry him in haste, he understood the driving reason behind it.
 
No one could replace Silver in his heart.
 
They were meant to be together.
 
Forever.

“Something wrong?”
 
Silver frowned.
 
“You got a strange look on your face like you bit into something sour.”

Sour?
 
The word described exactly how he felt.
 
Losing those he loved was becoming the norm, but he couldn’t lose Silver.
 
He wouldn’t make it to the next morning without her.
 
His hand went to the spot on his chest where the ring rested against his skin.
 
He should just do it, take the chain off and give the ring to her.
 
The timing wasn’t the greatest, but he didn’t want to keep putting it off until they ran out of time.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said.
 
This was it.
 
He was going to do it.
 
“Actually, I want to ask you a question.”

“Go ahead.
 
Ask me anything.”

Should he drop down on one knee?

His cell phone rang.
 
Interrupted again.
 
Rolling his eyes, he held a finger up to signal a postponement of the conversation.
 
“I’ll just be a second.”

“Okay.”
 
She set Mr. Turtle on the white bookshelf and returned to the dresser.
 
As he walked away, she pulled a pair of jeans out, set them in the open suitcase on the bed.
 
She didn’t look his way again.

He stepped into the hallway, knowing it was
Jersey
on the other end.
 
Jersey
was the only one who called from a Private number.
 
Somehow the head werewolf knew he was about to have a happy moment.
 
The jerk couldn’t let him have a moment’s peace.
 
“What do you want now?” Jack asked in a gruff voice.

The hostile tone didn’t phase
Jersey
.
 
Without hesitation the werewolf said, “I want you to go down to the study.
 
I have a surprise for you.”

Jack froze.
 
His whole body went rigid.
 
Jersey
knew they were at the house.
 
He was watching them.
 
Jack’s eyes traveled to Silver’s doorway.
 
Should he grab her and run?
 
If
Jersey
had put something nasty in the basement, it wasn’t going to go away on its own.
 
Silver would insist on going downstairs with Jack to take care of it.

“What is it?” Jack asked.
 
“What’s the surprise this time?”

“Go to my study and find out for yourself.
 
I hope you like it.”

Jack shook his head.
 
“I am not playing this game with you.
 
Why would I go downstairs and walk into a trap?”

“Because I can get to Silver any time I want.
 
She’s only safe if you do as I say.”

“You expect me to believe that.”

“I give you my word.
 
You are safe... this time.
 
Go down to the mansion.
 
Now.”

The phone went dead.
 
Jack slid it back into his pocket before descending the stairs to the first level.
 
He tapped the bottom step with his foot.
 
The trapdoor fell open.
 
Jack quickly went down the second set of stairs before he had time to contemplate the consequences.

He used vampire-speed to get to the study.
 
He didn’t want to be away from Silver for a moment longer than absolutely necessary.
 
The corridors were quiet.
 
When he entered the study, he found
Jersey
waiting for him.
 
Of course, it wasn’t really
Jersey
.

“Blanca,” Jack said.
 
“I know it’s you.
 
Give up the charade.
 
Pretending to be
Jersey
isn’t going to work with me anymore.
 
It doesn’t scare me.”

Jersey
’s face smiled.
 
“I like being
Jersey
.
 
Makes me feel strong.”

“It doesn’t give you his powers.”

“No, but I can still kick your butt.”

On that troublesome note, she attacked.
 
Or ‘he’ attacked.
 
Jack was a little gender confused at the moment.
 
Since Blanca was female did that make her a ‘her’ even when she was in male form?
 
Or was she now a ‘he?’

The whole thing made Jack’s head throb.

Meanwhile,
Jersey
(Blanca) spun around, hiked a leg, and landed a foot in Jack’s stomach.
 
The hard kick knocked the breath from Jack’s lungs.
 
Tears filled his eyes.
 
With a pained grunt, he dropped to his knees in front of
Jersey
(Blanca), straining to breathe.

With two fingers,
Jersey
(Blanca) pinched Jack’s chin and forced him to look up.
 
It was
Jersey
’s face and voice, but the mannerisms were strictly Blanca.
 
How had he not noticed it on the first night?
 
He’d sensed something was wrong.
 
Jersey
hadn’t been acting like himself, and the words coming from his mouth had been wrong.
 
Although she tried hard to speak in the poetic rhythm
Jersey
used, it didn’t sound quite right.

“Does
Jersey
know you’re here?”
 
Jack forced the question out in a raspy voice.
 
“When you dress up like him, does he know?
 
Does he tell you what to say to me?”

“We rehearse it several times.”

“So what’s the message?”

Jersey
(Blanca) giggled.
 
The feminine lilt was disturbing to say the least.
 
If Jack could keep Blanca talking for a while, he could figure out a way to kill her before she disappeared again.
 
It was time for his naughty kitty to take a really long catnap.

“You want the message now?”
 
Jersey
(Blanca) grabbed his face with both hands and forced his head up and down in an erratic nodding motion.
 
“Okay.
 
This is the message.”

Blanca took a deep breath and straightened
Jersey
’s spine.
 
She did her best to take on his disdainful expression.
 
Jack hated to admit it, but she was doing a good job.
 
A twinkle of amusement even touched
Jersey
’s eyes, and for a brief moment Jack doubted his conclusion that this was Blanca.
 
Maybe it was
Jersey
all along.
 
Jersey
was insane enough to pretend to be someone else pretending to be him.

Jersey
delivered the message with a booming, self-important tone and violent hand motions.
 
“You should have joined the winning team when you had the chance, Jack.
 
Now it’s too late.
 
You have stomped on my offer of friendship for the last time.
 
I am an angel, a keeper of death.
 
Soon you and yours will pay the price of defying me.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

Yeah, it was Blanca.

He struggled to his feet while
Jersey
(Blanca) continued to speak.
 
Air returned to Jack’s lungs with painful precision.
 
He scanned the room for a weapon.
 
If he had to gnaw on the end of a piece of broken furniture to make a stake, he was going to kill Blanca.
 
Too bad he couldn’t use his newly developed power to suck her soul out.
 
Isobel had warned him it would only work on werewolves.

Did shape-shifters even have souls?

Jersey
’s (Blanca’s) eyes narrowed on him.
 
“Where do you think you’re going, Jack?”

A long leg swiped his feet out from beneath him.
 
There was no time to grab onto something solid.
 
He went down hard.
 
His knees hit the floor.
 
Arrows of pain shot up his legs.
 
Someone had laid out the carpet on a concrete floor.
 
It didn’t feel like there was even padding to cushion his fall.
 
He gritted his teeth and waited for the agony to pass.

He was going to crush the evil shifter’s windpipe and choke the life out of her.
 

“Sorry about that,”
Jersey
(Blanca) said.
 
“But I’m not finished.
 
I was afraid you were going to interrupt me.
 
Can’t have that.
 
The boss pays me to deliver an entire message and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“He pays you?”
 
Jack forced a grin.
 
“In what?
 
Fish?
 
Cream?
 
All the mice you can catch in whatever rat infested sewer you two are living in?”

Jersey
(Blanca) hissed.
 
“Be very careful what you say to me.
 
I might just forget my orders and kill you now.
 
Are you going to let me finish or not?”

“Go ahead.
 
No one is stopping you.”

Jersey
took another deep breath and started over.
 
“You should have joined the winning team while you had a chance.”

“You’re repeating yourself.”

Jersey
’s fists tightened and for a moment Jack thought Blanca was going to attack him instead of finishing the message.
 
In
Jersey
’s voice she said, “I memorized the speech in order, you jerk!
 
Shut up and let me get on with it.
 
Interrupt me again and we’ll be here all day.”
 
Deep breath.
 
“You should have joined the winning team while you had the chance…”

Jack blocked her out until she got to the part he hadn’t already heard.
 
Until then he considered how he might kill her.
 
There was a sharp letter opener on the desk.
 
He could bash her head in with the nearby brass lamp.
 
There were also a few heavy angel statues in the room.
 
They had been put in storage the first week.
 
Silver talked Vanessa into allowing them to be moved back into the study.
 
Vanessa thought they were creepy, but Silver told her mom they reminded her of the wraith she’d rescued.
 
It had turned into something resembling an angel and saved Silver’s life when Page stabbed her with a sword.

Silver left that last part out while talking to her mother.

Jack tuned Blanca back in.

In
Jersey
’s deep voice she was saying, “All you had to do was cooperate, learn to coexist with me, but you and your hunter friends think you have the world by the tail.”
 
A short burst of laughter erupted from his parted lips.
 
“Teenagers!
 
Think you know everything there is to know already?
 
Well, get ready to learn a very important lesson.”
 
Jersey
(Blanca) leaned forward, bending over Jack.
 
“A head werewolf beats a pair of jokers any day of the week.”