by K. C. Blake
“Marriage?” Jack’s stomach dropped to his feet. It was worse than he’d thought. “That’s a big move.”
“Tell me about it. I’m just thinking at this point though. Someday far in the future, I think I’d like to get married, maybe have a couple of kids.”
Jack tried to picture Billy as a stable family man and failed. It was possible for a hunter to have kids and a normal semblance of a life. Andrew Reign was a great example. But Billy was too rough around the edges, too wild.
They said goodbye, and Billy left. As Jack watched his brother go, he experienced a sharp pang of dread. Everything was about to change. He saw it coming just like a person could see a train barreling down the tracks long before it hit them.
Silver would be leaving for college in five months.
Billy would eventually get married and move away so he and his family could enjoy a normal life. Maybe he’d even leave the state. Werewolves didn’t like hot places. Billy would probably move down South.
Jack was being left behind, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Someday soon he wouldn’t have anyone left—just the cat.
******
Before leaving town, Jersey had signed over his house and land to Jack. The house had been small, unimpressive, but there was a mansion hidden beneath it, a secret mansion. Jack hadn’t wanted it, so he’d given it to the Reign family because their house had been burned to the ground by one of Jack’s vampire friends. Signing over Jersey’s old place seemed like the least he could do seeing that he was kind of responsible for the fire.
Using vampire-speed, Jack ran through the fields to Silver’s home without calling first. He knew she’d be there, studying as usual. Hopefully she’d be glad to see him.
Because Jersey’s little place had been a wreck and no one with even a passing acquaintance with sanity would want to live underground, they’d knocked down the original structure and erected Vanessa’s dream house. A two-story white colonial with black shutters and a bright red door, it looked inviting like a fairytale house. There were flowers everywhere: yellow posies in flower boxes on the second floor windows, multicolored peonies on either side of the door, planted near the house, and pink and white tulips along the walkway.
Jack stood at the end of the walkway, hands shoved deep into his pockets. Even though he was getting along better with Silver’s dad, he didn’t want to explain what he was doing at their house that late. Jack closed his eyes and willed Silver to feel his presence. He concentrated on silently calling her name, using a sort of telepathy.
The light flickered on upstairs, and the curtain rippled. A shadow moved past it. For a short time nothing more happened. Then the front door opened, and Silver raced out to meet him. She wore the same cute pink pajamas he’d seen her in after they’d first met. Her arms went around his neck for a quick hug.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her face flushed. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure. We need to talk. I don’t want your parents interrupting us, so let’s go to the basement.”
The basement was their word for the secret mansion. It was used for numerous hunting-related activities like meetings, storing confidential information, and a hideout for visiting hunters. The list went on and on. They were constantly finding new uses for Jersey’s former home.
“Can we get down there without your parents seeing us?” he asked.
“They’re in bed, but I don’t know if they’re asleep yet. We’ll need to be quiet.”
“Lead the way.”
Silver looked up at him from beneath lowered lashes. She slipped her hand into his. The two of them walked to the front door and went inside. Neither of them spoke. They crossed the foyer quickly to stand on the bottom step of the hand-carved staircase.
Jack tapped the bottom stair three times with his foot, and the floor opened to reveal more steps. He glanced at Silver and motioned for her to go first. She carefully picked her way downstairs. He followed. Once they were below the floor, it closed, effectively hiding them from curious eyes. The mansion was soundproof. They could scream their heads off, and her parents wouldn’t hear a thing.
They automatically went to Jersey’s former study because it was Jack’s favorite room. He sat behind the antique desk in Jersey’s old chair and absently drummed his fingers against the wood surface. His eyes drifted over the mess of papers scattered across the surface. There were maps marking the sites most populated by werewolves and lots of numbers that were meaningless Jack. Nothing interesting.
“Well?” Silver stood on the other side of the desk, hands on hips. “What brought you all the way out here without a car? I know you didn’t run over just to say hi.”
“I wanted to talk to you about your friend Isobel.”
“She told me she was going to leave you alone. What did she do now?”
Jack removed the rock from his pocket and showed it to Silver. “Isobel gave me this. She told me to sleep with it under my pillow tonight, but since I don’t like her, I decided to show it to you first. Do you know what it is?”
Silver reached across the desk and took it from his fingers. She rolled it around in her hand, staring at it for a long time before slapping it down on the desk. “I guess I need to have another talk with her. She swore she’d leave you alone.”
“What’s the rock for?”
“I don’t know.” Silver walked around the room aimlessly. “The only magical stone I’ve ever heard of is the one that Lovely passed down through my family. Isobel can be a little…uh, eccentric. She’s probably just messing with you. I doubt that that stone does anything.”
It would be great if that was true. Unfortunately Jack knew a few things about Silver’s friend that she didn’t. Silver had no idea that he and Isobel shared a past. He certainly wasn’t going to tell Silver about his suspicions that he’d been a werewolf at one point. No need to upset her.
Jack leaned back in the chair, spun it around in a lazy circle while mentally replaying his last exchange with Isobel. Should he admit the girl scared him?
“When did she give you the stone?” Silver asked.
“After school. I was waiting for you, but Isobel told me you were talking to your guidance counselor.”
Silver’s jaw dropped. “What? That little liar! I wasn’t with the guidance counselor, and she damn well knows it. Isobel asked me to wait for her at my locker because she had something important to tell me. It was a set up. She just wanted to get you alone for a few minutes.”
“Her plan worked.”
“What did she say to you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“We need to figure out what she’s up to. Come on. Try to remember every word that came out of that liar’s mouth.”
“She told me to put the rock under my pillow and sleep on it. That’s all.”
“Did she say why?”
“Something about getting the answers I want. I don’t know. It was sort of a rushed conversation. My head was hurting, and I just wanted to get home.”
“And Isobel had to meet me at her locker to keep up her little charade.”
“You mean she actually showed up to talk to you? Seriously? I watched her get into her car. She must have waited for me to drive away before going back inside. She’s got nerve.”
Silver rolled her eyes. “I waited for at least twenty minutes for her, and when she finally shows up she tells me she wants to get together with me for a slumber party like old times. Can you believe it? How lame, and I totally fell for it. I thought she wanted to be friends again. She must think I’m totally stupid. What else did she tell you? She didn’t threaten to kill you or anything, did she?”
He shook his head. “She just gave me the rock and told me to sleep on it.”
Silver headed for the door. “I’m going to rip into her like you wouldn’t believe. Just wait till I get my hands on her.”
Using vampire-speed, it only took a fraction of a second for Jack to block her way. The s
udden breeze blew her hair around and rearranged the papers on the desk. She glared at him. It wasn’t the first time he’d used his powers against her and probably wouldn’t be the last. Now he had to make her understand he didn’t want her to get hurt. If what he’d seen in his dream was true and Isobel had killed him in a past life, she was capable of anything.
Wait a second…
Isobel had looked the same in the dream as she did now. That wasn’t possible, unless she was immortal. He had been so worried about being a werewolf in a past life that he hadn’t considered Isobel must be one too.
Jack frowned. “Has your necklace burned lately?”
The tiny silver dagger around her throat burned every time a werewolf or vampire was nearby. Although it hadn’t burned when she’d been around Jersey or the werewolf who’d killed his parents, but they’d come up with a logical explanation for that. Jersey was the first werewolf ever created. The rules didn’t apply to him.
As for the werewolf-janitor, he had been one of Jersey’s followers. It reasoned that anyone turned by the most powerful werewolf in the world would also be powerful.
“No, my necklace hasn’t burned for a long time.” Silver’s eyes narrowed. “Why? What are you thinking?”
“Jersey can’t turn a girl into a werewolf, right? That’s what you told me. Every girl he infects becomes a wraith.”
“That’s what it says in Lovely’s diary.”
Lovely was known for being wrong on occasion. Not often, just enough to make a person crazy with uncertainty. Could she have been wrong about the wraith thing? Was it possible Isobel was actually a werewolf turned by Jersey?
Jack grabbed Silver by the shoulders and stared intently into her eyes. “Do me a favor and stay away from Isobel for a while.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me. I can’t explain right now, but I’ll let you know as soon as I have this thing figured out.”
He hurried out the door, leaving Silver to gape after him, but her voice was right behind him.
“Jack? What is it? What’s wrong?”
Her words haunted his ears as he took off at full speed. If he was right, he had to stop Isobel before she did any real damage. The rock in his pocket was momentarily forgotten. He ran home to plan his next move.
******
Chapter Six:
A BLAST FROM THE PAST
It was almost ten o’clock, hours since his visit with Silver, and Jack moved from room to room in the house he shared with his brother, feeling restless. Billy hadn’t returned home and for once, Jack was glad. He knew if he waited long enough, Isobel would appear, ready for a confrontation. A tumultuous hurricane of emotions kept him wired. He couldn’t sit, couldn’t eat, not until he confronted his new enemy.
Blanca glanced up from her spot on Billy’s chair. She meowed in a harsh tone, disapproving of something. Lately his cat had been acting stranger than usual. Most people wouldn’t be able to ask their cat what was wrong with them, but his cat was a shape-shifter so she understood English. Unfortunately she couldn’t say a word while in her feline state, and Blanca no longer possessed the ability to shift.
He couldn’t think of anything more pathetic than a shape-shifter stuck in its animal form.
Jack went back to the foyer, stood at the foot of the staircase, and looked up at the second floor. He thought about the rock in the top dresser drawer. Maybe he should give into his curiosity and go to sleep with it under his pillow. Isobel had said it would answer his questions. His hand went to the banister. The only sound in the house was the soft ticking of his mother’s favorite clock on the living room wall.
Another sound joined the light clicking.
Soft footsteps crossed the living room floor, alerting Jack to the presence of an intruder. Blanca hissed. The white fur-ball darted through the foyer on her way to the kitchen. Jack reluctantly turned to face his unwanted guest. Isobel stood in the open arch leading to the living room.
Her jaw worked up and down a few times. Parting her lips slightly, she blew a pink bubble, and his eyes widened in surprise. Her mouth took the bubble back inside and popped it with a single bite. The normal act of chewing gum looked wrong on her. So many things did.
“I know what you are,” Jack said in a quiet voice, a stark contrast to the raging emotions within.
Her dark eyebrows slowly went up. “Do you?”
“I had a dream about you before I saw you. At first I thought it was just a trick, a fantasy, but it wasn’t. It was real. It was a memory. Tell me I’m wrong.” He wouldn’t believe her if she did. A new triumphant light flooded her eyes. She nodded, waiting for him to continue, so he did. “Tonight I realized something. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
Jack stepped closer to her and added, “You looked exactly the same in the memory. You haven’t changed a bit.”
“You’re right. I haven’t changed in centuries.”
His eyes slid down her body, searching for evidence to her true identity. Vampire? Werewolf? Shape-shifter? There was a long list of possibilities, but nothing about her gave away the answer. Her body appeared to be as human as his. The clothes she wore fit like a second skin, hugging every curve. He wondered if she had a weapon on her—and if so, where in the world could she be hiding it?
Her lips curved. “Figured it out yet?”
“Huh?” His cheeks burned hot at being caught staring, and he wondered if she could read minds. Did she know he’d been thinking about what was under her clothes? “What did you say?”
“We were in love.” Her fingers slid up his chest, curved around the back of his neck, and he stiffened like a cornered rabbit. She asked, “Do you remember this? Do you remember how it felt to kiss me?”
Isobel leaned forward until her lips were a mere inch from his.
“I remember you killing me,” he said with blunt force. “That’s what I remember about you.”
Surprise registered on her face. She walked away, swaying her hips in exaggerated fashion as she crossed to the other side of the living room. By accident or by design, the sofa separated them. It didn’t matter. Nothing could stop him from ripping her throat out if he decided to go that route. For now he just wanted the truth.
“We knew each other before,” he said. “How? When?”
“I gave you the stone to help you remember. It’s magical. Why don’t you slip it under your pillow tonight and gain the answers for yourself?”
“Because I don’t trust you.”
She sighed. “Where is the stone? Give it to me.”
A reasonable request. Even though he didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone downstairs, he went up to his room and retrieved the rock. He used vampire-speed, so he was back before her brain could register his absence. He tossed the rock to her. It flew through the air, and she caught it easily between both hands. Her eyes closed. A soft glow shimmered through the cracks that separated her fingers.
Without opening her eyes, she walked back to him. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in her steps. She didn’t hold her hands out like a fearful person stumbling around in the dark. It was as if she could still see him, exactly where he stood, through her eyelids. She reached for his hand, and he almost jerked it away from her. He felt the rock’s welcoming heat envelope his entire body and cloud his mind. His vision blurred.
Four months ago Jack had experienced a new power for the first time. He discovered he could touch someone, see a (memory) scene from their past. Usually, but not always, he saw it from that person’s point of view. It had been both disturbing and enlightening. Before the scene began he would feel like he’d gotten zapped by electricity.
This time was different.
There was no electrical shock to signal the coming scene, only a soothing heat. It filled him, body and mind. Then he was sailing through time and space. A sharp pang of motion sickness hit him hard. When he didn’t think he could take another second, the journey ended.
******
Once
again he was both inside and outside of his body, but he wasn’t a wolf this time. He stood over himself, staring at his face in stunned disbelief. The face resembled his, sort of. Tobias had the same eyes, only his had purple stains beneath them. He had the same color of hair, but it had been cut close to the scalp, and the lower half of his face was covered in dark stubble.
Tobias couldn’t have been mistaken for Jack, but he could be a close relative.
He reclined on a small bed, a cot that looked like standard Army issue. The lights were off because he didn’t want to see the faded, torn wallpaper. Other than the cot, the room was nearly barren with just a broken chair, a shabby dresser, and rusty metal table. The cheap rental was located above a biker bar. Loud music and raised voices invaded his space through the open window.
Tobias stretched out in black boxers and matching socks. Like a stranger in his own head, Jack searched for answers—and found some.
His name was Tobias Blackstone, and he was a twenty-two-year-old werewolf. He and his girlfriend were hiding from hunters, vampires, and other werewolves because he was the one Lovely had written about in her infamous diary. A werewolf attack had turned him mortal for a short time, but Tobias had embraced his new werewolf side. With the help of Izzy, he had turned into a full-fledged werewolf, complete with dark powers.
Even though he had no intention of killing the head werewolf, because that would cause him to lose everything he’d gained, he was being hunted by inferior beasts that were afraid he might actually do it.
Wind whistled through the open window, playing with the thin, yellowed curtains that were already hanging at an odd angle. The cool air reached him briefly, giving him a moment of relief from the heat. It only lasted as long as it took for him to sigh.
******
Mississippi was hot, unbelievably hot and humid. Tobias could hardly breathe in the oppressing heat. It was even hard to swallow. Sweaty and uncomfortable, he waited for the next wave of cool air to tease his burning skin. In the future he was going to pick hideouts that had at least one working fan.
