Vampires Rule (24 page)

He buried his face in her throat and breathed
deep.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“You have nothing to be sorry about.” He
pulled away and cupped her face between his hands. “You almost
died. I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved
in my childhood trauma. I should have taken care of that monster
myself.”

She shook her head hard. “He would have
killed you.” Her fingers sank into his hair, and she rubbed his
scalp. Still gasping for air, she said, “We need to depend on each
other. No one can kill either of us if we stick together. Deal”

“Deal.” He leaned his head forward, briefly
touched his forehead to hers.

The door opened, and Jersey emerged
unscathed. He seemed surprised to see them waiting. The two of them
stepped apart, all eyes on the teacher, and Jack asked, “Did you
kill it?”

A werewolf could kill another werewolf with a
tiny scratch. It wouldn’t have taken any effort at all for Jersey
to permanently dispatch the janitor. Jack had seen it, and he’d
done it.

“No, I did not kill him,” Jersey said in a
quiet voice.

Silver’s mouth fell open. “Why not?”

“I assume you told her about me,” Jersey said
to Jack. He turned to Silver. “Why would I kill one of my own?
There are so very few left of us in the world thanks to hunters
such as yourself.”

“Few? I can’t turn around without tripping
over a hairy beast.”

“It is true our population is growing,
slowly, but humans still outnumber us about a hundred-thousand to
one.”

Jack doubted that. He wrapped an arm around
Silver, preparing to take her away from the school before something
else could happen, but she pushed him away, not ready to go just
yet.

“Were you the first?” she asked Jersey. “You
seem awfully intelligent, far smarter than the idiot in the
basement. It’s you, isn’t it? That’s why you won’t kill him,
because you’re already growing an army.”

Jack sighed. He couldn’t believe she was
still convinced of Jersey’s guilt after he’d saved their lives from
the werewolf janitor. What did a guy have to do to prove his
innocence?

Jersey’s lips compressed, and his eyes
temporarily lost the chronic amusement they usually reveled in.
“You are an angry little girl, aren’t you? I was like you once. You
need to invite peace into your heart and learn to forgive like I
have.”

“Forgive what?” Her hands went to her
hips.

Jack remembered Silver had killed Jersey’s
close friend Kenneth. Before Jersey could lose his cool, Jack
grabbed her around the waist and dragged her backwards, away from
Jersey, until he could spin her around and take her by the hand. He
forcefully pulled her from the school.

As the glass doors swung shut behind them,
Jack glanced over his shoulder to see a smug smile on Jersey’s
face.

The expression shocked Jack, making him
wonder if Silver was right.

Was Jersey Clifford the lead werewolf?

“Are you sure this is it?” Silver asked in a
dull, lifeless voice.

Jack parked the car in front of Jersey’s
house after getting the address off the secretary’s rolodex at
school. He bent down in his seat so he could see past Silver and
stared out the passenger side window at the little house. It was
almost as bad as the old Miller place with an overgrown lawn,
peeling paint, and broken shutters. Several acres surrounded the
tiny home, unused land covered in wild flowers and weeds.

Disappointed, Jack shrugged. He had pictured
Jersey living in a huge house, expensively decorated and piled high
with books. This place did not fit the man’s personality, and it
didn’t make any sense. Hadn’t Jersey lived in Bliss for over three
years?

It was a short walk to the front door. Since
they didn’t have a key, they looked around for a spare one. Jack
didn’t think Jersey was the type of person to keep a key under the
doormat, but he tried it anyway. No key. They also didn’t find one
above the door or in the nearby potted plant, dead from
neglect.

Silver folded her arms across her chest and
leaned back against the house. “Now what?”

“Maybe I still have the power to…” He reached
a hand out, waved it over the doorknob. His reward: the sweet sound
of a soft click. The door swung inward, and he smiled at
Silver.

Her jaw dropped. “How did you do that?”

“Trade secret.”

They stepped over the threshold and stopped
in stunned silence. The interior of Jersey’s house was worse than
the exterior, if that was possible. The furniture was sparse; there
was a rickety three-legged sofa, a cracked glass kitchen table, and
an empty file cabinet on its side. No pictures or paintings on the
dull, gray walls. There was a clock on a corner table, and a stack
of newspapers by the back door. That was basically it.

“This isn’t right,” Jack said under his
breath.

There wasn’t a single book in sight. Jack
took a quick tour of the entire house. It took less than a minute.
The bedroom wasn’t any better than the living room. The bed didn’t
look slept in, and the nightstand didn’t have a solitary possession
on it, not even a lamp. Jack opened the drawer. Nothing. It was
like nobody lived in the house.

“Look what I found,” Silver said.

She held up a dark blue handkerchief, and
Jack recognized it on sight. Jersey had been wearing it the night
of the wraith attack. Jack reached out, fingered the edge. He
experienced the urge to grab both the handkerchief and Silver’s
hand. He didn’t know why. Urges didn’t come with logic or reason.
He simply obeyed the impulse.

Jack’s fingers slid over hers, and he grasped
them tight. A familiar current of electricity traveled through his
body. He braced himself for a trip into Jersey’s memory. Silver’s
soft gasp followed him to the other side.

****

Jersey sat behind his huge desk in his
comfortable chair, flipping through a hardbound book. He looked
like he’d just come from a funeral in a black suit with a blood red
tie. His blond assistant was perched on the edge of the desk. She
posed like a model, pursing her painted pink lips together while he
searched the pages for something.

“
What’s happening?” Silver asked.

Jack looked sideways, surprised to see her
with him. Then he realized he was still holding her hand. Lovely’s
scribbled note came to mind. This was their shared power. “We’re in
one of Jersey’s memories,” he replied.

“
What do we do?”

“
Watch and listen.”

Pagan said, “I don’t understand your weird
fascination with that boy. He’s friends with the hunter, and he’s
dangerous.”

Jersey quoted, “He’s sweetest friend or
hardest foe, best angel or worst devil. I either hate or love him
so. I can’t be merely civil.”

“Why can’t you speak English?”

“Elizabeth Barrett Browning,” he said with a
smug smile. “She was brilliant.”

“Whatever.” Pagan blew a pink bubble.

“In answer to your question, I am drawn to
him for some inexplicable reason I can’t quite fathom as of yet.
Until I figure it out, and I will figure it out, I am most
certainly not going to terminate him.”

Pagan rolled her eyes. “Then kill the hunter
at least.”

“You
are
a bloodthirsty witch, aren't
you?”

“That’s why you keep me around.”

Silver asked, “Can we get closer, look at
the papers on his desk?”

“
I don’t know,” Jack said. “We can
try.”

Jack pulled her behind him as he approached
the teacher’s desk. They couldn’t touch anything, couldn’t pick up
the papers to examine them or move them around, so they bent over
the desk to get a closer look.

There wasn’t anything interesting, just a
bunch of seemingly random numbers.

Pagan asked, “Since your plan didn’t work out
at the party, what are you going to try next?”

“I’m not sure.” Jersey rubbed his chin. “When
I ordered the wraiths to attack, I was hoping to save Jack’s life
and gain his trust.”

Silver and Jack shared a stunned look. Jack
gritted his teeth and stared down at Jersey. He wished they weren’t
in a memory. His body shook with rage, and the memory flickered a
couple times. He’d like to wipe the smug smile off the liar’s
face.

Jersey added, “I underestimated him. Since he
doesn’t have powers anymore, I was convinced he would run as fast
as he could in the opposite direction. Instead, he ran into the
chaos to save some silly girl.”

“You should have had the wraiths kill
him.”

Jersey slammed his hands against his desk,
his anger aroused. His eyes flashed red for half a second and a
wolf’s face appeared over his own. Then it was gone. His expression
returned to a cool and neutral rock-like state. “He is not to be
killed. Understand? And, as I’ve told you before, the girl is
nothing. She can’t hurt me.”

Pagan made a huffing sound. “Right. Not yet.
She’ll get stronger and better as she grows up.”

“If she attacks me, I’ll kill her. Simple
enough.”

****

Jack and Silver were sucked from the memory,
thrown back into the present without warning. The front door was
opening; Jersey had returned home. Jack grabbed Silver by both arms
and shoved her into the nearby closet. He closed the door in her
surprised face. Better to keep her safe now than to be sorry later.
He could explain why he was in Jersey’s house, he hoped, but there
was no way to come up with a believable reason for Silver being
there.

Jersey entered with a briefcase in hand. He
didn’t even blink an eye at the sight of Jack in his living room.
Smiling, he said, “I was wondering when you would get around to
visiting me.”

“We need to talk.”

Jersey waved him to the kitchen table before
peering into his refrigerator. “I’m afraid I don’t have much to
offer you in the way of food or beverages. The milk has passed the
expiration date. I have stale bread, a can of tuna, and tap water.”
He opened a cabinet. “Ah, I also have some instant coffee.”

Jack made a face as he recalled the last time
he’d tried coffee. “I really need to talk to you. It’s
important.”

“Sounds serious.” Jersey sat across from him.
“Tell me, what is on your mind this fine day.”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Remember when you told me you’d killed your
wife? I need you to elaborate. Please. Also, I’d like to know how
you became a werewolf in the first place... and when.”

“Look at this,” Jersey said. He picked up a
can of peanuts. “I forgot I bought these yesterday. Can I tempt
you?” He tilted the can in Jack’s direction. After Jack shook his
head, Jersey poured peanuts into his own hand. He ate them slowly,
one at a time, an amused glint in his eyes.

Feeling impatient, Jack said, “If you aren’t
going to tell me anything, I’ll just leave.”

“I suppose it won’t hurt to share the
information with you.”

“Okay.” Jack rested his elbows on the table.
“Why don’t you start with telling me her name? Who was your
wife?”

His expression softened, and he stared off
into space, looking into the past. “You are so young, Jack. Names
are not relevant to the story. Names change with the seasons.” He
quoted Shakespeare. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by
any other name would smell as sweet.”

Jack sighed. “Forget her name then. Tell me
about becoming a werewolf. When and how?”

“It happened in the morning of my youth.”
Jersey’s eyes danced with amusement again as Jack became more and
more irritated and impatient. “I was young and in love, and I
foolishly gave my heart to someone who didn’t deserve it.”

“And?”

“Have you ever been betrayed by someone close
to you?”

He thought about Cowboy throwing a lit bottle
of alcohol into Silver’s home. “Sure. Happens to everyone.”

“No. Not like this.” Jersey leaned across the
table, his cold eyes staring straight into Jack’s. “I had a friend
who was like a brother to me. We grew up in the same house, raised
by a nice old lady after our parents were killed. When we were
kids, we shared everything. Then we grew up and fell in love with
the same woman.”

Jersey’s expression darkened. “I was not
willing to share her with him.”

“Of course not.”

“Fickle girl couldn’t make up her mind. She
wanted us both. One day we’d had enough, and we confronted her
together. It was the last thing we ever did together in fact. We
told her to make a choice.”

“Did she?”

“If you count turning me into a werewolf and
him into a vampire, I would say the answer is yes.”

Jack froze as if he’d looked straight into
Medusa’s eyes, and his blood turned to ice. In the diary, Lovely
had talked about not being able to choose between two young men.
She’d loved them both but hadn’t gone into detail on what she’d
done to solve her dilemma. Now Jack knew. She’d cursed both men....
but why?

Jersey answered the unspoken question. “The
girl I loved had a curse on her as well. She didn’t sleep at all,
couldn’t age, and she had been banished to our world forever.
That’s why she did it. Brilliant, if you think about it. She fixed
it so that I would be her companion during the day, and he would be
with her at night. Neither of us had any clue about the other
until—.”

“Until what?” Jack literally sat on the edge
of his seat, eager to hear the rest.

“That is a story for another day.”

“Are you the first werewolf?”

Jersey’s laughed without humor. “I’m not like
the others, Jack. They can’t control themselves. When I get angry,
I am still in control. When I kill, I do it for a reason now, not
out of blind fury.”

“Answer the question... please.”