“And the Jack I remember used to cry himself senseless at the sight of blood,” she replied. “Every time you skinned your knee, you acted like you were about to die.”
He grinned at her. It was true, though the pain had also been a part of it for him at that age.
“I was looking forward to coming back to the island,” said Jack. “Mostly because of you. We fell out of touch, but you were always in my thoughts. I just wanted to get to know you again.”
Why hadn’t he ever tried to reach out to her? It was a question that didn’t have a simple answer. Jack searched his memory, but the time period directly after his parent’s death was so murky for him. And why was that? Again, he found himself faced with another complicated question, one that made him feel uncomfortable and unsure of his own choices and past.
Katie didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds. She met Jack’s gaze, and for an instant, he saw the girl from way back then looking at him, instead of Katherine White. Her cute face, her freckles, her beautiful brown hair, it was all still there. Part of him wanted to bring up the silly, childhood promise of marriage they’d made to each other. The rest of him didn’t want to make things any weirder than they already were.
A vibrating buzz interrupted them. Katie flinched and reached down to the pouch on the side of her catsuit. She pulled out her phone, smiled when she saw the screen, and then glanced back at Jack.
“It’s Bruce,” she said. “My fiancé.”
Jack nodded, trying to tamp down the disappointment that her words had rekindled in him. For a while, it had seemed like his relationship with Katie had started to thaw, but it really hadn’t changed, at all.
“Hey,” said Katie, into her phone. “I hope you weren’t worrying about me. I’m okay, I was just… What? You’re at the bar? Bruce, you have to work tomorrow!”
She sighed and walked back over to the fireplace.
“You and your friends can walk home,” said Katie. “It’s not that far. No... Bruce, no. I swear to god, if you get behind the wheel…”
Katie covered the phone for a second and swore under her breath.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll be there soon. I love you too, honeybunch.”
She hung up the phone and glanced over at Jack.
“I have to go pick him and his friends up,” she said.
“All right,” said Jack. “So how much does your fiancé know about the supernatural?”
“Nothing,” said Katie. “And I’d really like to keep it that way. Peter wanted me to have a life outside of being his apprentice and helping protect the island. He never intended for me to do it forever, and I don’t plan to. As soon as your shit is settled, and the mansion has been sold, I’m retiring.”
“Fair enough,” he said. He held back his second question, which was about whether she planned on telling Bruce about the few seconds of intimacy they’d shared while he’d been biting her. Again, he found himself opting for the path of least resistance for the sake of not making things weird.
It was tempting, however. He had to tamp down on the urge to make a stand and fully express just how much he’d thought about her, over the years. How much he’d dreamt about how things could be.
But as profoundly wrong as it felt to know that Katie was with someone else, Jack was an adult. He knew that there was nothing he could say in a sentence that would change her feelings. He also knew that he’d literally had his fingers sliding beyond the thin barrier of her panties a couple of minutes ago.
It was complicated, and he came to the conclusion that regardless of where he wanted to go with Katie, the best way to get there would be through patience. At least, for the time being.
“You’ll be on your own for a little while, Jack,” said Katie. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get back here tomorrow morning.”
“Are you planning on going after Mira alone?” he asked.
Katie shook her head. “I teach yoga classes at the gym during the day. It’s like I said before. I’m not going to abandon the rest of my life over your issues.”
“Right,” said Jack, rolling his eyes. “Anything I should keep in mind?”
“Avoid using Spectral Hand, the blood magic spell you discovered,” said Katie. “It will burn through your blood essence reserves and accelerate your bloodthirst.”
“Speaking of burning,” he said. “You’re sure that I’ll be okay in the sun?”
“I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘okay,’ but you’ll be able to tolerate it,” said Katie. “Maybe find a pair of sunglasses to wear if your eyes feel overly sensitive.”
“Good to know,” said Jack. He took a breath. “Well, all right. Thanks, Katie. For everything.”
“Thank me once your fucking broodmother is dead,” said Katie. “Until then, it’s not like I can give you a guarantee that I won’t have to kill you, after all.”
“Right,” he said, again. He wasn’t sure he believed her. Or maybe, he just didn’t want to.
Katie left without saying goodbye, heading upstairs to change and then leaving through the garage entrance. Jack leaned back into the couch, and then, on a whim, he started stacking firewood in the fireplace. He felt like he could use the warmth.
CHAPTER 11
It was unexpectedly difficult for Jack to get sleep as a vampire. He retired to his old, childhood room, tossing and turning in the now unfamiliar bed until it became clear that it just wasn’t happening.
He wandered through the mansion, letting himself become comfortable in the space again. He wanted to investigate the basement workshop, but Katie hadn’t told him the access code, and he didn’t have her cell phone number to call and get it.
Jack made his way upstairs instead. He paused outside the master bedroom, his grandfather’s old room, until his curiosity got the better of him. The door was unlocked, and the air inside had a slightly stale smell to it.
Peter Masterson’s bedroom was clean and simple. There was nothing inside of it that gave away his supernatural background, but given how careful Jack remembered his grandfather being in life, that didn’t surprise him.
There was a single framed picture on his nightstand. It was of Jack and his parents on a hiking trip they’d gone on with his grandfather when he’d been nine or ten. It was possible that it was the last photo ever taken of them.
Jack was standing in front of his mom and dad in the photo, each of them resting one of their hands on one of his shoulders. He had a broad, genuine smile on his face. How long had it been since he’d been that innocent and happy?
He felt emotions welling up in his chest as he looked at the photo. He missed his parents so much, even more than a decade after growing accustomed to their loss. He missed his grandfather, too, and resolved to ask Katie if she knew where he could find a photo of him. He didn’t expect many to be lying around the mansion, given how humble and unassuming Peter had been.
Jack put the photo back where he’d found it. He went downstairs and took a seat in the lounge. There wasn’t much else to do other than waste time on his phone. The mansion’s wi-fi wasn’t password protected, which he found a little funny given how secure the rest of it seemed.
He was surprised by how normal he felt now that he’d had his bloodthirst sated. It scared him a little to remember how deep and compelling the craving had been. It was something he would have to live with for at least another day, and maybe longer, if they didn’t manage to find Mira.
He hadn’t given much thought to her in the time since she’d bitten and turned him, or to why she’d done it in the first place. She’d called it her parting gift to his grandfather. Did she take pleasure in the idea of torturing him in Peter’s place?
Oddly enough, the idea of encountering Mira again excited him. He didn’t want to kill her, even though Katie had made it clear that it would be necessary if he ever wanted to live normally again. He wanted to talk to her, to know more about her motivation and her life. And more than anything, he wanted to know more about what
she’d done to him.
Despite Katie’s warning about using his blood magic, Jack was unable to resist feeling for it with his awareness. He could sense the Potential inside of him, almost like he could sense having a fever or a cold, but in reverse. It was like an inner presence, a vague warm feeling contained within his body and available to channel outward, if he focused on doing so.
He pushed into the sensation, giving in to the temptation of it, but only slightly. He could adjust the frequency of how he channeled his Potential, though most of the range felt analogous to trying to sing a note that his voice couldn’t reach. He let himself focus on how he’d channeled his blood magic to use Spectral Hand, and pushed a small, pencil-sized dark crimson tendril out from the tips of one of his fingers.
It was bizarre, and it underscored how far he’d already drifted from being a normal human. It was a mixture of maintained willpower and imagination, almost like trying to visualize a detailed image in his head.
The closest thing he could compare it to was having an extra limb that worked through thought and visualization rather than muscle contraction. Jack curled the tendril into a spiral, wrapping it around the thumb of his other hand. It felt like cold metal, the type of cold that made goosebumps form and penetrated through the top layer of his skin.
How many uses were there for this type of spell? Certainly more than the simple ones he could list off the top of his head. Extending the tendril from his hand or fingers could enhance his reach, like he’d done in the fight with Bert. If he did the same from his shoulder, or chest, he’d essentially have an extra arm to maneuver. And of course, he could potentially use spectral magic in the ways Katie had suggested, as a shield or weapon that he could manifest from nothing, giving him the element of surprise.
The drain that maintaining Spectral Hand took on his blood essence reserves was subtle, but appreciable. It reminded Jack of being able to sense the state of his lungs while holding his breath, and the more he considered the analogy, the more appropriate it seemed. Now that he was a vampire, he would have to feed regularly. The thought felt foreign and disconnected from how he was used to living his life, but it was now just a fact of existence.
He felt the blood pounding inside his head, just behind his eyes, and slowly released his control over the spell, breathing out. Katie was right about how quickly using his blood magic would take a toll on his body. He forced himself to calm down and turned his attention back to his phone.
Dawn arrived unceremoniously, and Jack felt his anxiety build as the darkness began to give way to light outside the windows. It didn’t make his skin burn, like he would have assumed. It was more of a subtle nervousness, like being outside and in the dark on a pitch-black night.
One of the locks on the mansion’s front door clicked. Jack stood to his feet abruptly. Katie had said that she wouldn’t be around during the day. He hurried to press himself around the corner of the wall, preparing himself for a fight.
He waited until the door opened, and then leapt around the corner. Ryoko made a startled noise and dropped her keys. She was wearing her maid uniform, with the addition of a duffle bag slung over one of her shoulders. Her black hair was in a bun identical to the one Jack had seen it styled into yesterday, and it made him wonder what it looked like when she let it down.
“Oh!” she said. “Mr. Masterson. My apologies. You startled me.”
She clasped her hands in front of her lap and leaned forward into a bow.
“I should be the one apologizing,” he said. “I thought you might be someone else.”
“Ms. White called me early this morning,” said Ryoko. “She told me about your condition.”
“She… told you?” Jack frowned slightly, unsure of what to say.
“I apologize if that makes you uncomfortable, sir,” said Ryoko. “She informed me of how your epilepsy can act up when you’re under stress, or in a new environment. She told me to tell you that it’s all right to rely on me for your needs, in her place. I’ll be staying at the mansion full time again.”
Jack nodded, trying to keep his reaction to her words from showing on his face. What was Katie thinking? The entire reason why she’d gone through the trouble of brewing the anti-enthrallment potion in the first place had been to keep Jack from biting innocents. And Ryoko seemed to be both ignorant of the supernatural and as innocent as a person could be.
“Wait…” he said, processing the rest of what she’d said. “So, you’re going to be living here, too?”
“Yes, Mr. Masterson,” said Ryoko. “Katie told me that you should call her if you have any questions or concerns.”
Jack didn’t have Katie’s number, and he could only wonder if that last comment had been intended to tease him a little through Ryoko.
“It’s fine,” said Jack. “Thank you, Ryoko.”
“Sir.” She bowed again. “Would you like me to start on breakfast?”
“If you feel up to it,” said Jack. “I’m not really used to having a maid. I don’t want you to feel like you have to go out of the way for me.”
“It’s my job, sir,” said Ryoko.
She smiled and hurried past him toward the kitchen and the servant’s quarters. Jack headed up to his own room, grabbing some clothes before heading to the upstairs bathroom to shower and brush his teeth.
He was surprised by what he saw in the full-length mirror. The old myth about vampires being unable to see their own reflection was clearly a fabrication, but what Jack saw instead was only a little less unnerving.
His skin was paler than he’d ever seen it before, and his eyes had a dark, brooding quality to them. His normally brown irises appeared to now have flakes of rusty red, though it wasn’t obvious enough to draw attention from anyone who wasn’t staring into his eyes up close.
What caught him off guard the most was how much his physique had changed since the last time he’d seen himself. His arms, shoulders, and abdominal muscles were all more defined than he remembered. The changes weren’t drastic individually, but combined, they made him seem almost like a different person. Like a stronger, more handsome version of himself. He eyed his reflection, feeling a little vain as he flexed into a few clichéd body builder poses.
On a whim, he pulled open his boxers and took a gander at his lower half. And what a gander it was. Jack had never been very concerned with the size of his manhood, but it was now basically the size of a pornstar’s. A pornstar that got a lot of work. He couldn’t help but grin, even though it was basically irrelevant to his current circumstances.
He started the shower and climbed in as soon as it was warm. He washed, dried off, and returned to his room to find that Ryoko had snuck away from making breakfast to set clothes out for him across his bed.
It wasn’t one of his outfits. She’d picked out a pair of nice tan slacks, a white t-shirt, and a navy-blue blazer, along with a belt with a shiny brass buckle and a pair of leather shoes. The clothes fit him almost perfectly, and he was left wondering whether they’d once belonged to either his father or grandfather. He headed downstairs, passing through the lounge into the kitchen.
“Sir,” said Ryoko, as he entered. “The mayor of Lesser Town called while you were in the shower. He wanted to know if you’d stop by his estate this morning to speak with him.”
Jack furrowed his brow. It felt a little strange to find out that the mayor of all people had called him personally. It reminded him of the fact that he was technically a wealthy man after receiving his grandfather’s inheritance. And on a small island like Lestaron, that was enough to turn him into somebody that mattered.
“Should I call him back to accept?” asked Jack.
“He said to just stop in whenever, sir,” replied Ryoko. “I’m almost finished with your breakfast, and I can drive you into town after that. Unless you’d prefer to leave immediately.”
Jack almost said yes before catching himself. He was a little hungry, which was surprising. He’d thought that he’d only need blood to sustain
himself as a vampire, but apparently that was another exaggeration of the myth.
“No, I’ll eat first,” he said.
CHAPTER 12
Ryoko had made French toast, bacon, sausages, several croissants, and diced home-fries. The food looked amazing, but both the smell and taste were a little muted to Jack. He still ate without any trouble, but he couldn’t help but compare everything to the way Katie’s blood had felt on his tongue.
He found it a little strange how Ryoko hovered around him rather than sitting down at the dining room table to eat her own breakfast. Jack made the offer for her to join him, but she brushed it off, claiming to have already eaten earlier.
They headed out to the car as soon as Jack was finished. Again, he found Ryoko’s subservience more off-putting than appreciated. She held the back door of the car open for him, keeping her gaze aimed at the ground until he’d climbed inside.
“Those little things aren’t necessary, you know,” he said, as soon as she joined him inside. “I can open my own doors. And you can eat at the table with me. I’d rather have you as a friend than a maid.”
“Yes, sir,” said Ryoko.
Jack smiled a little. He couldn’t help but appreciate the poise it took for Ryoko to maintain her stubborn refusal to relax around him.
“How long have you been working at the mansion?” he asked. “Did you work for my grandfather, too?”
“I did,” said Ryoko. “And then for Ms. White after your grandfather’s death. I’ve been with the mansion for about six months, now.”
“Oh,” said Jack. “That’s not as long as I would have guessed.”
He suddenly felt like he wanted to ask Ryoko how old she was, though he wasn’t entirely sure if it would be appropriate. She looked like she could be around the same age as him, or maybe a year or two younger. Certainly old enough to have worked other jobs.
“What were you doing before you started working here?” asked Jack.
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