by Kasi Blake
After entering their home Jack was promptly led to the formal dining room where the four of them gathered around the large table. Cowboy had taught him to get to know his enemies by looking at their environment. The way a person lived revealed more details about them than their words, so he took a moment to look around.
The house was clean but not immaculate, not like Silver’s room. It was cozy with a lived-in feel, the kind of place his mother would have enjoyed. Decorated in country fashion with bare wood furniture, homemade items, and simplistic drawings of cows on various things like the cookie jar, it contradicted the rigid people Silver’s parents portrayed themselves to be.
Andrew sat at the head of the table, with his wife at the other end. He waved Jack to a chair in the middle. Silver hung in the background, an interested observer. Jack noted how close she stayed to his chair. She’d meant it when she’d said she would protect him from her parents.
As soon as he sat down the inquisition began.
“Why are you hanging out with our daughter?” Andrew demanded to know.
“Did you try to attack her before the werewolf got you?” Vanessa asked. “Is that how you met?”
Andrew didn’t give him a chance to answer before he shot another question at him. “What are you going to do about your vampire friends? You can’t possibly expect us to believe they’re going to take your defection lying down?”
Sweat formed in the pits under his arms, making him more uncomfortable. It felt like the temperature had gone up eighty degrees. He opened his mouth to respond to a question, but he didn’t get a chance before another round started. Questions flew over his head like rapid gunfire. A few barely even registered before another dozen zipped by. It soon became clear that these hunters didn’t want answers. They were trying to prove he was dangerous, convince Silver that he needed to die.
“And what makes you think you can go back to school as if nothing has happened?” Vanessa gave her husband a knowing look before tagging on another question. “How many innocent people have you killed?”
“Why should we allow you to live?” Andrew eyed the shotgun in the corner. “Human or not, you were killed ten years ago. You shouldn’t be alive now. It isn’t natural.”
“Stop it!” Silver shouted. Her father glared at her. Her mother didn’t even glance in her direction. That didn’t keep Silver from demanding their complete attention. She rested hands on the back of Jack’s chair and said, “You aren’t even giving him a chance to speak.”
Andrew waved her protest away as if it was an annoying fly. “This isn’t just some boy you’ve brought home for dinner. He was a vampire. Do you have any idea what that means? He’s lived a dark existence you can’t even imagine. His survival instincts have been pruned and cultivated. He’s killed—”
“No, he hasn’t.” Silver shook her finger in the air, making her point. “He hasn’t killed a solitary person.”
“Is that what he told you?” Her mother flicked a look of pure loathing at him before turning to her daughter. “All the vampires I have met over the years have been liars and con-artists and murderers.”
Without thinking Jack said, “The hunters I’ve met have been greedy and dishonest and would kill their own mothers if the price was right.”
Andrew slammed a fist against the table, making everyone jump. He pinned Jack with a hard stare. If he didn’t love his daughter so much, Jack had no doubt the man would kill him on the spot. Instead, he gave Jack a warning. “You will watch your mouth while you are in my house.”
Andrew and Vanessa exchanged a look. As if they had spoken by telepathy they rose from the table at the same time and dragged their daughter into the kitchen to have a private ‘chat’ with her. Since they were shouting, Jack heard every word.
“I can’t believe you brought a vampire into our home!” her father yelled. “We have put up with a lot from you, little girl, because you have such a heavy burden to carry, but this tears it!”
Jack didn’t like the way her father was talking to her. Furious, he forced himself into the living room. The further he got from that man the better. Silver wouldn’t appreciate it if he attacked her father, no matter how angry she was at the moment.
The loud voices still reached his ears.
“He isn’t a vampire anymore,” Silver insisted.
“You don’t know what he is!”
Vanessa jumped in with, “Even if he is the one Lovely wrote about, he could still be dangerous. She wrote about the boy developing strange new powers, but she didn’t go into detail. We have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“Your mother’s right.” Andrew lowered his voice. “You are put into constant danger because of who you are. That doesn’t mean we have to invite trouble into our home. Stay away from him.”
Jack browsed through their collection of old books and looked over the Indian art hanging on the walls. His stomach plummeted at her father’s final statement. The thought of not seeing Silver again plunged his soul into darkness. He couldn’t stand it. He wasn’t going to give her up without a fight.
Apparently, he and Silver agreed on that.
“Make me,” Silver said defiantly. “If you try to keep us apart, I will never speak to either of you again. I mean it. In less than a year I turn eighteen. If you try to mess things up with Jack, I promise you I will leave this house, and you won’t ever see me again. I can survive on my own. You know I can.”
Jack smiled, and his heart swelled with pride at hearing her defend him. That’s my girl.
There was dead silence in the Reign family home after Silver’s bold threat. It grew to epic proportions. Jack began to wonder if the parents had dragged her out the back door.
The three of them emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later. They found him in the living room, pretending to be enthralled with their art collection. Silver made a quick path to him. She turned, standing between him and her parents, hands on hips.
Andrew glowered at them both while Vanessa’s face took on a defeated, pinched look.
“He is the one Lovely wrote about,” Silver said. “He has to be. All evidence points to it. Now, we need to help him get ready to do his job... unless you want the world to fall into werewolf hands. Is that what you want?”
Andrew grumbled beneath his breath, something about the world could go to hell for all he cared.
She pleaded with her mom. “You know I’m right about this. You raised me to pay careful attention to everything Lovely wrote. You practically had me memorize the entire diary. We can’t ignore part of it just because you don’t like it.”
“She’s right,” Vanessa said with a sigh. “We did raise her to believe everything Lovely wrote.”
“So what’s the verdict?” Silver asked.
Andrew’s hard eyes moved to Jack’s face. “Fine. You win. We won’t kill him today. But if he steps a foot out of line, if he does anything we think is harmful, I will blast a hole clean through him.”
Jack tried to swallow without making a loud gulping sound. Andrew Reign was a truly terrifying man. In fact, Jack figured he’d rather face an army of werewolves than Silver’s angry father. This man wouldn’t hesitate to kill Jack. Maybe he was one of the people Silver had warned him about in her sleep.
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 while 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 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 that 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.”
“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 story. 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. 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 Billy’s spare jacket 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 difficult. 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 his 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 lik
ed 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. This is how you repay 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 in the past, 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 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. “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.
