"Elaise also put silver doorknobs on Kyle's bedroom door," Jake quickly told on the brunette.
Elaise glared at him but Raven sighed. "He'll know it was you."
"How so?" Elaise crossed her arms and Der shook his head at her.
"No other of his kind can touch silver," Raven kept her voice low and chose her words carefully. "You and I are the only ones who know about them…" She frowned when she told herself Sally would have known too and she spoke before she could stop herself. "Does Anthony know?"
Elaise nodded. "The headmaster told him some other story. I'm not sure what."
Jason came back with a small tray of food and put it on the table, sitting down and taking Raven by the waist, pulling her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and Eliza shook her head at him.
"I thought I told you to get some food for yourself, too," she grumbled.
"I'm not hungry," he answered.
"You didn't eat all night or all day," the golden-eyed girl protested.
"I'm not hungry," he repeated.
Raven slowly picked at the food that was placed in front of her but she couldn't bring herself to feel overly hungry either. She soaked in the warmth of Jason's body and she shoved a spoonful of vegetables in her mouth. She stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork and picked it up, half turning and holding it up to Jason's mouth. He grumbled something under his breath but Raven glared at him.
"Eat it," she growled.
He gave in slowly and opened his mouth, taking the chicken from the fork and eating it. Raven smiled with satisfaction and fed him a few more pieces before they both gave up on eating. Raven couldn't bring herself to be overly hungry either.
"Can I stay with you tonight?" Raven asked.
"Of course you can," he nodded and cuddled her.
"Then I'm staying with you!" Elaise said to Der. "I'm not sleeping in that dorm alone."
Everyone laughed and Jason helped Raven to her feet. Raven gave Elaise a hug and said goodnight to everyone before she followed Jason out of the hall, glancing up again at Elaise's display of Kyle's underwear just as the teachers got it down.
Jason led her down the hallways and upstairs to the boy's dormitories. When they reached Jason's room, Raven went straight to his bedroom and seated herself on his mattress that was still lying on the floor.
"You want me to explain now, don't you?" he asked.
"Please," she nodded. "I want to know everything."
He took a deep breath and sat down in front of her. He reached forward and grabbed her hand. "Everything I say now will be the absolute truth, I promise."
"Okay," she replied. "I want you to start from the very beginning."
He closed his eyes for a moment before be began to speak. "Boulder and I used to be really close when we were kids, but the day our parents died was the day we both started growing apart. We went in and out of foster care and it never lasted long because every full moon we were forced to change and we were always given back. We were finally adopted by Evan and he took us to his home. That was when we found out they were all vampires; we couldn't tell by his scent because we had never come across his kind in the past.
"We were both raised as killing machines and Boulder developed a hunger for the kill. It brought him joy to kill the victims that the vampires brought back for us and he would always ask for more," Jason frowned. "I didn't want to kill, so they mocked me. They brought back a little girl, only six years old. They told me that I had to kill her or they would remove certain things that I didn't want removed." Raven bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, though she knew she shouldn't, and Jason seemed glad that she found some sort of amusement with his story.
"I did kill her, as much as it tore me apart to do so," he went on and Raven calmed herself. "After that, killing became a part of life. The vampires would put my victim in front of me and I would kill without thinking about it. I was trained to fight, to be aggressive by nature and I was forced to fight against my brother on several occasions. Evan said it was good training for us both in case we ever came face to face with another werewolf.
"When I was trusted enough, I came here with Boulder and he told me I had to persuade someone to come out at night. The vampires had to sleep during the day, so it was only me and Boulder. We barely ever slept and we were always tired," Jason breathed and squeezed Raven's hand. "That was when we decided it would be easier to convince the human girls because I was young and Evan always told me I had this kind of boyish charm about me. The girls were always looking for someone to sleep with so when I offered it to them, they broke curfew for me."
"You had sex with them all?" Raven gasped.
"No!" he shook his head. "They always assumed that was going to be the case and I led them on with a couple of kisses as I led them back home. It was much easier than turning into a werewolf and risk letting them scream and alert the other refugees.
"As soon as I led them home, Evan would welcome them with his evil smile and the girls always figured out that I tricked them. The only time they learned about our kind was when they were dragged to the other chamber where Sally…" he didn't dare finish his sentence and Raven suddenly found herself fighting back tears. She understood; the room where Sally was murdered. "I always had the cleanest kills. Boulder was so hungry for murder that he would make a mess and Evan grew irritated. I remember, the girls always begged me not to kill them, it was almost heartbreaking. I would transform and hear them scream right before they died.
"The vampires would feed off the blood and Boulder and I would be given the limbs. I never ate them," he said quickly as Raven felt a churn in her stomach, giving him a sick look. "I always went hunting like a real werewolf should. But after the first couple of kidnappings, the school became aware of us and I came into conflict with many of the refugees here; including Eliza and Storm. That's why Storm is so quick to judge me, because he doesn't trust me."
"Then, why doesn't the headmaster trust you?" Raven mumbled. "When we were caught in the pool… He said he was beginning to think your allegiance hadn't changed. At first I didn't understand, but now I do."
"He doesn't trust me because I'm always trying to convince him to teach the refugees how to fight," Jason explained and brushed his thumb over the top of Raven's hand. She found it quite soothing. "He thinks I want to turn them all into what I used to be and go on a killing rampage through the school."
"But you won't," Raven almost whispered.
"I appreciate that you believe me," he sighed and reached up his spare hand. Raven closed her eyes as his hand gently brushed across her cheek, his fingers sending tingles all through her body. "But the headmaster will never trust me until I can prove to him that I've changed."
"How much more can you do to prove it to him?" Raven opened her eyes and had to remember how to breathe when she saw the fragileness in his green gaze. "You've done so much already…"
"I have to kill them all," he frowned. "Even my brother."
"No!" Raven pursed her lips. "Jason, I saw you back there! There's no way you can kill them all by yourself."
"I know," he nodded. "That's why I want the others to get stronger. I know they want to, but the headmaster won't let them. If I ask them, most of them will be on board, but it all narrows down to the headmaster's word."
"None of you should have to risk your lives," the blonde girl felt fear creeping up on her. "You don't have to stay here. You can leave the school and go somewhere new, where no one knows who you are. Boulder and the vampires won't follow you…"
"No, but they'll continue to kidnap girls from the school until there's no one left," he pointed out. "I can't let them continue to do something that I helped them achieve in the first place. Besides, I don't know anything about the outside world."
Raven felt like she was going to cry again. "I do. I could go with you."
Jason shook his head and pressed his thumb against the bottom of the blonde's chin, forcing her to look at him. "You're not ready yet. An
d I can't leave the school to suffer. When it's all over, we'll talk more about leaving here."
"So, I can go with you?"
He gently brushed her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. "I don't intend on leaving you behind."
Raven felt her heart racing and she wondered if Jason could hear it pounding against her chest. "How did you leave them? The vampires… Did they just let you go?"
He choked on a laugh. "Of course not. An army would never let their best soldier try to join the opposing side without giving them the death sentence."
"What happened?"
"It was after I led the last girl back home," he looked down at his hand as he held Raven's. "Evan ordered me to kill her. She was scared, like all the others had been. But she didn't beg me to spare her, she just watched me as I prepared to do my job. She had eyes exactly like yours, which is what drew me in when I first met you."
Raven smiled, unsure why. "After that?"
"I wasn't sure what happened," he shook his head. "But I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill her. Evan yelled at me over and over to do it, but I wasn't able to. She just watched me the whole time, not saying a word. Evan was outraged and told Boulder to take her life instead. I walked out and they followed me. They surrounded me and Evan held me by the throat. He questioned my loyalty and I told him that I didn't want to do it anymore. I told him that I was going to leave.
"He told me I wasn't going to leave the house alive," the green-eyed boy looked haunted by the memories. "Everyone was ordered to kill me and Boulder stood back as the vampires attacked me. I still remembered the bites and scratches, but I changed my form and threw them all away; that was what they trained me to do after all… I growled at Boulder, using our werewolf language to ask him to come with me."
"Did the vampires know what you were saying?" Raven asked, finding the story more intriguing than she thought she would. "What did Boulder do?"
"They didn't have a clue," Jason answered. "And Boulder refused. He was happy with them, but he also didn't want me to leave. We were still pretty close at that time."
"So… When did he start hating you?"
"When I told him I was leaving with or without him," he shrugged. "I tried to run but Evan barked out an order and before I knew it, Boulder attacked me in his other form and tried to kill me.
"It stung that my brother would betray me so easily, but we had spent so many years training with each other that it must have been like flicking a switch for him. I didn't stay to fight, I wanted to get out of there before it was too late to run. Since I'm still a pup, I was able to run a lot faster than Boulder could. Pups have more speed and heal faster while adults have more power and a better sense of smell," he added when Raven blinked with confusion. "He caught up to me just at the border of the forest and I got a severe hit to the head. I changed back into human, my real form, and Boulder stayed in the forest while I stumbled away. I collapsed at the doors of the school and Eliza and Storm found me.
"Storm wanted to kill me but Eliza showed sympathy when she realized Boulder was waiting for them to turn me away so he could kill me. I passed out and when I woke up, I didn't know where I was. Eliza came into the room and told me she had seen to it that Boulder was chased away. I had to admit, I was impressed.
"She took me to the headmaster and he made me explain why I left the vampires. When I did, he gave me the option to stay here if I changed my ways and never intentionally hurt anyone again. I agreed but he made sure I was put in a Martial Arts class because my killing nature will never truly go away.
"I never really spoke to anyone at the start when I began classes. The human girls had their eyes on me but I steered clear of them as much as I could. The other werewolves were wary of me and Storm hated my guts. Eliza maintained a fair distance but it was Der that was brave enough to talk to me. I knew he was cautious, but he told me that he came from a bad place too. He didn't ask me to tell him anything but after we hung out more and more, I opened up to him and he understood. We became good friends and he helped me build up the courage to talk to more people and now almost all of the werewolves trust me.
"This was only last year," he chuckled. "But that's the whole story. Though there is still one girl I try to avoid like the plague."
"Who?" Raven muttered. She hadn't noticed him trying to avoid anyone…
"Brittany," he chewed his lip. "If I hadn't of decided I didn't want to kill anymore, she would be dead by now. She had seen me before I was accepted here and she knew something was odd about me; she still does. So I try to keep away from her and I get worried whenever she picks on you."
"Why would it worry you?" Raven murmured. "She's not going to turn into a mad psycho and try to kill me like…" she quickly stopped herself.
"Like my brother nearly did," Jason finished her sentence for her. "I was more scared this morning than I've ever been. If not for Der, you might have bled to death."
Raven saw the pain in his eyes as he looked down at their hands. "Why Der?"
"Because I didn't know how to help you," he admitted. "I only know how to kill. I've never had to safe a life and when you passed out… I was terrified. The refugees have never seen me cry until now."
Her heart went out to him and she took a deep breath. "Well, I'm okay now, so there's nothing to worry about."
"They'll come back," Jason sounded sure of himself. "They're not going to stop."
"Will they try and kidnap us again?" Raven felt a shiver run down her spine when she imagined being dragged back to that house again.
Jason shook his head. "They'll kill you first chance they get. I want you to stay far away from the forest and always stay with someone or near one of my kind if you're not with me. They know about my temper problems and even I know that if I lost you now… I'll kill anyone that so much as steps in my path."
Raven smiled. "Jason?" she decided to change the subject to a lighter one. It pained her to see Jason so upset.
"Hmm?" he looked up at her quickly.
"I… didn't really get to take notes of what you looked like as a werewolf when you were fighting Boulder…"
He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to change?" she nodded and he exhaled heavily. He swiftly kissed her on the cheek before getting to his feet and kicking his shoes off, pulling his shirt over his head. It almost felt like the entire week they hadn't spoken never actually happened, Raven thought.
Jason glanced back at her for a split-second before he spouted fur and grew into a seven foot beast. He quickly dropped onto all fours and Raven found her feet, her heart racing. Jason looked exactly like his brother, but he was definitely smaller. She gazed into his golden eyes as he stood there with his head level with hers. Raven took a few steps towards him, careful not to trip on his blanket. When she stood in front of him she smiled and raised a hand, scratching his neck like a dog. His eyes closed momentarily and his huge muzzle leaned against her arm. She had to admit it was strange seeing him in this form but he was so furry!
"Oh my God!" she gasped and he opened his eyes. "You have a tail!"
Even Jason glanced back as his huge furry tail swung back and forth and snorted, nudging Raven with his nose. She giggled and petted him on the head, not forgetting to scratch him behind the ears. He left out a soft whine and dropped onto his belly, rolling onto his side and looking up at her pleadingly. Raven quickly rolled her eyes, knowing what he wanted. Now she understood why he loved when she tickled his stomach and she crouched down beside him, scratching his belly. He definitely looked like a happy, over-grown puppy lying in heaven.
She couldn't stop laughing when his back leg started to shake. He grumbled quickly and Raven was suddenly picked up by human arms and gently placed on the mattress. She grinned up at Jason as he pinned her to his bed and his green eyes flashed playfully at her.
"Thanks for that," he chuckled.
"You're welcome," she smirked. "You look good with a tail."
"No one's ever commented on my tail before," he whisper
ed.
"Is it a good thing then?" she blinked up at him innocently.
"It's always a good thing if you say it," he said seductively and pressed his lips against hers.
Thinking Back
24. Thinking back
"How much further are we going to go?"
Jason smirked and turned to face the girl, taking both of her hands and walking backwards through the forest, pulling her along. "Not much further, I promise. Why? Are you scared?"
"No, of course not," she was a bad liar, Jason thought. He could smell the doubt coming off her in waves.
"If you say so," he chuckled and leaned in, quickly pecking her on the lips. A grin grew on her face and he continued leading her through the trees. "It will be well worth it."
Silent World Page 31
