Vampires Rule (11 page)

Silver smiled. “If you’re done threatening
Jack now, can you tell him about the legend? Or you could let him
see the diary for himself.”

Andrew gaped at his daughter as if she’d lost
her mind. He shook his head adamantly. “There is no way this boy
will ever get his hands on that book. No one sees the diary outside
of this family.”

Her mother agreed. “There’s a lot of
information in there he doesn’t need to know. If you’re wrong about
him, he could use it against us later.”

Silver gave Jack an I-told-you-so look. She
led him to the couch and sat next to him. Her mother sat across
from them in a cushy beige chair, but Andrew paced back and forth,
keeping the tension on high.

Vanessa began the story.

“Lovely had several visions and recorded them
in the diary. Now, I must caution you about these visions, Jack.
Lovely warned us that the future is never written in stone.
Sometimes she had more than one vision about the same event, two
possible outcomes. We try to take everything she wrote down with a
grain of salt.”

Jack leaned forward, eager to hear what the
faerie had written about him. If it was bad news, he could change
it. Vanessa had made that clear.

“Lovely wrote about a young vampire.
According to her the boy would be attacked by a werewolf and made
mortal once again.”

“You see!” Silver leaped out of her seat,
unable to contain her excitement. “How many times do you think that
can happen? It’s him.”

Andrew glared at her.

Vanessa wasn’t finished. “Now for the bad
news. In one of her visions, Lovely saw this boy develop the powers
of both vampire and werewolf, yet he remains mortal so he can be
killed. Fighting the head werewolf while vulnerable is suicide. I
wonder if you truly care enough for my daughter to risk your
life.”

Jack remained silent because he’d wondered
the same thing.

“That’s why I didn’t want you in school,”
Silver said. “Not all werewolves and vampires have heard about
Lovely or about your part in the end battle, but there are some out
there who know the whole story and would risk anything to kill you.
If they find out who you are before you get your powers, you’re
dead.”

“Did Lovely see me take on the head
werewolf?” he asked. “How does it end?”

Vanessa checked with Silver before she
answered. When Silver nodded, her mother continued. “There are a
couple of possibilities listed in the diary. She saw you fighting
her werewolf, but she couldn’t tell who won. It’s not for sure
you’ll even make it to the start of the war. One diary entry
detailed your death long before the head werewolf begins to grow
his army.”

“When?” If he could see it coming, he could
stop it. “How?”

“It’s unclear as to who kills you or how they
do it. As for when, it would have to be before the war. You’re most
vulnerable right now. If I was going to kill you, I’d do it in the
next few weeks or so.”

“What about my powers? What kind of powers am
I getting? You mentioned werewolf powers. What is that supposed to
mean? Am I going to start howling at the moon?”

Was he going to get fleas?

Silver took over the explanations. She
settled next to him again. Her hand rested on his knee. The tender
gesture brought a murderous scowl to her father’s face and a
disapproving frown to her mother’s. Silver didn’t notice. Her deep
blue eyes were fixated on
his
face and his alone.

“The diary isn’t specific when it comes to
your powers. I don’t think Lovely saw that much. All we know is
that you’ll retain some powers of a vampire, and you’ll develop
some powers of the werewolf, so you won’t go into the fight
defenseless.”

“But I’ll still be mortal?”

“Exactly.”

Great. He was going to be a bigger freak than
he’d been before. So much for getting a second chance at being a
normal person. He watched his dreams hit an invisible fan. The
blades sliced those dreams to shreds.

“Are you going to tell him about the legend,
how the first werewolf and vampire got created?” Silver asked.

Vanessa shook her head once. “He doesn’t need
to know that right now. I told him the part that concerns him.”

Silver crossed the room to hug her parents,
first her mom and then her dad. She told them she had to take Jack
home before Billy started to worry about him. Her dad’s expression
softened when he held her. They told her to be careful and to be
home in time for dinner.

The scene brought an emotional lump to Jack’s
throat. He missed his parents, especially his mom. He tried to
imagine how his mom would react to his situation if she was alive.
She probably would have told him to follow his gut. She definitely
would have liked Silver.

****

Billy wasn’t worried. He wasn’t even home
when Jack arrived. Silver offered to stay and keep him company, but
he thought her parents would show up with pitchforks and flaming
torches, so he politely pushed her out the door. Anyway, it was
nice to have the house to himself for a change. He walked from room
to room, enjoying the silence.

Jack dropped onto the sofa, putting his feet
up on the coffee table. He grabbed the remote control and flipped
through the channels, searching for something decent to watch. His
stomach rumbled. Billy hadn’t gone to the grocery store in a few
days, so they were living on crumbs. There wasn’t any point in
searching the kitchen for something to eat. It was too bad they
lived so far out of town. He could have ordered a pizza.

The front door flew open, hitting the
interior wall. Jack leaped into the air, spinning around and
landing on his feet like a cat, all senses on high alert.
Adrenaline rushed through his veins. Without looking down, he
grabbed for the nearest possible weapon, the knife Billy had used
to spread mustard on a cracker that morning. His fingers tapped
around the table a few times before touching cool metal. Grasping
it firmly, he walked to the door on cautious feet.

He strained his ears to pick up the slightest
sound. Nothing. The silence filled his head, louder than a
sixty-chair orchestra. He crossed the threshold, stood on the porch
and searched the darkness for movement. If the Reigns were right
about him getting his powers back, now would be a good time.
Instinct warned him that he wasn’t alone.

It was dark outside except for the light of
the moon, but it wasn’t a full moon. Not yet. At least he didn’t
have to worry about werewolves. The barn door banged against the
red building’s exterior, opening and closing at random. Jack nearly
jumped out of his skin. He crossed his arms against the growing
Arctic breeze and wished he’d put his coat on before venturing
outside. Vampires didn’t get cold. For some reason he kept
forgetting that he wasn’t a vampire anymore.

He tucked the knife between his arm and ribs
in case he was right about being watched. An inner voice screamed
at him to hurry back inside. Mortal now, he couldn’t recklessly
walk around at night anymore. He wanted to adhere to human rules,
but it was hard. Physically he was human, but on the inside he
remained a vampire. He thought as a vampire. He reacted as a
vampire.

Something big whipped past him and smacked
him in the face. Jack stumbled backwards. The knife flew out of his
hand. He scanned the yard again for movement but found nothing. It
came from a different direction this time. A painful slap stung his
cheek, cutting him just below the eye. A third hit knocked him to
the ground.

He rolled over on hands and knees and tried
to catch his breath. Being human wasn’t as easy as he remembered.
The front door seemed a mile away now. If he ran fast, maybe he’d
make it. Before he put his plan into action, feet landed directly
in front of him. There were three pairs. He didn’t have to look up
to know who the feet belonged to: his old friends had returned.

A hand dangled in front of his face. He took
it without hesitation. Cowboy jerked him up to a standing position.
They stood toe to toe. Cowboy’s eyes were solid black, seething
with anger, and Jack searched his mind for a way to diffuse the
situation.

“We brought you home to die,” Cowboy said.
His head tilted to the left like a dog trying to figure out a
strange sound. “Imagine our surprise to find you still alive. Why
aren’t you dead, Jackpot?”

Cowboy wanted to know if Jack had tricked
him. Reasonable question. Unfortunately, Cowboy was not going to
like the answer.

“The werewolf venom changed me,” Jack
explained. He forced a smile, working hard to keep the fear from
showing. Their paranoia might cause them to do something
regrettable. He took a deep breath before announcing, “I’m human
again.”

Summer gasped.

Lily shook her head and stared at him with
eyes clouded by betrayal. “Why did you do it? I thought you liked
being with us.”

“I did.”

“No way!” Summer shrieked. “You cannot be
human, not after everything we went through together. I saved your
life!”

Cowboy agreed. “We took you into our group,
made you one of us. How did you do it? How did you become human
again?”

“I didn’t change on purpose, guys.”

Summer shrugged. Her voice lowered to its
normal husky state. “It doesn’t matter how he did it. We can change
him back. I’ll bite him, and we’ll go home.”

“No.” Jack tried to find the right words. He
was walking a dangerously thin line with them. They had been his
friends, and he would have trusted them with his life, but things
had changed. They had become his enemies overnight. “It happened
for a reason. I can’t explain right now. You need to trust me.
There’s a reason I’m human again. I have a destiny none of us knew
about.”

“Destiny.” Cowboy practically spit the word
from his mouth. “Since when do you believe in that garbage?”

Cowboy drew closer, his black eyes filled
with menace. His upper lip curled, revealing his fangs. He could
jump on Jack, tear his throat out, and there wasn’t anything Jack
could do to stop it.

He stood his ground on shaky legs, determined
to stand up to Cowboy.

“I’m going to give you some time to rethink
your position,” Cowboy said. “If you aren’t with us, then you’re
against us. If you’re against us, we’ll kill you.”

“No!” Lily moved fast. In a flash she blocked
him from Cowboy and cried, “You aren’t going to kill him! He’s my
friend. He’s our friend. Try to remember that. We’re family.”

“Not anymore,” Cowboy said. “Not if he
chooses to stay mortal.”

“I’m with Cowboy on this,” Summer said. “We
aren’t friends with humans. You can’t stand with him on this one,
Lily. It’s over. He’s walked away from us.”

“No.” Lily spun around. Her eyes glistened
with tears. “Please, Jackpot, you have to come with us. We’re
family. I love you.”

Words caught in Jack’s throat, choking him.
There was nothing he could say to spare her pain. The other two
were right this time. They couldn’t be friends, not now, not ever.
Vampires and humans were born enemies.

Cowboy shook a finger at Jack. “You are
powerless now, buddy. We can do whatever we want. We can kill your
stupid brother and hang his head on a stick in the front yard.
Nothing you can do about it. Make the right choice or it will be
your funeral.”

Cowboy was gone in a flash, leaving a cloud
of dust behind him.

Summer took a step closer and sniffed the
air. “You even smell human now. Why would you want to join them? Is
there someone keeping you from us? Is it your brother?”

He couldn’t read her mind, but he knew her
well enough to know what she was thinking. She would kill Billy
without giving it a second thought if she thought Jack had chosen
him over her. He definitely wasn’t going to mention Silver.

He took a deep breath and said, “You know I
was never truly happy as a vampire. I missed almost everything
about being human. I didn’t revert on purpose, but I’m glad it
happened.”

“Big mistake.”

Summer took off as fast as Cowboy had.

“What’s it like to be human again?” Lily
asked after the others were out of earshot.

She was the only one out of the three who
would understand. He smiled. “It’s incredible, better than I
remember. Food tastes better than I remember, and it’s good not to
have to worry about sunlight anymore. My emotions are a little out
of whack right now. I’m having trouble controlling my temper, but
it’s still great.”

“It won’t be the same without you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

She took a few steps away from him. “I won’t
be able to stop them if they decide to kill you.”

“I know.”

“But I won’t help them do it.”

She moved so fast she was gone before he got
the next two words out.

“I know.”

Cowboy had been right about one thing. He was
powerless to stop them at the moment. They could kill everyone he
knew, and he wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. It occurred
to him the best thing he could do for Silver was to cut all ties to
her. He didn’t want to do it, but maybe he should.

He stared at the dark horizon. A slow smile
spread across his face. His former friends didn’t know his powers
were returning. If they tried to attack his brother, he was going
to have a surprise for them... hopefully.

Jack went to Silver’s house; he went without
a plan. Either he was going to tell her they couldn’t see each
other anymore, or he was going to warn her about the threats Cowboy
had made. He wasn’t sure which and wouldn’t know until he saw her
face.

He sat on the quaint porch swing instead of
knocking on the door like a regular human being. The swing creaked
beneath his weight. A cold breeze blew his bangs to the left. He
stared at the door, knowing he wouldn’t have to knock. Somehow she
would know he was there. She would sense his presence the way he’d
sensed she was behind him the night they’d met.