by K. C. Blake
“Great.” He rolled his eyes. “The girl of my dreams thinks I’m cute.”
Silver laughed. It was probably the first genuine laugh he’d heard come out of her in several days. She said, “Being cute isn’t the end of the world. Anyway, I think something might be wrong with your cat. You should take her to the vet. Sometimes cats get moody when they don’t feel good.”
He pushed his hands into his jean pockets and followed Silver into the living room. Once there, he purposely changed the subject. “I had a visit from the new teacher today. Do you think he could be a werewolf?”
“No.” She made a face at him, but it was gone so fast that he didn’t have time to label it. Her eyes didn’t meet his. She was hiding something too. “I’m a hundred percent positive he is not a werewolf. My necklace doesn’t burn around him for one thing.”
“It didn’t burn around Jersey either. Not to mention numerous others. The list keeps growing by the day. I'm beginning to wonder if that stupid thing has ever worked.”
She sat on the couch and folded her rose-colored sweater in half. It rested on her lap. She picked at it, refusing to meet his gaze as she said, “Stop being so paranoid.”
Jack trusted Silver’s intuition, at least to a point. An awkward tension settled over the room. Things used to be so easy between them. These days it seemed they were growing further and further apart. He didn’t know what to do to stop it. He opened his mouth to tell her he missed the way things used to be.
There was a loud commotion upstairs as if someone was ransacking his room. Jack’s eyes went to the ceiling. A lump lodged in his throat. Billy wasn’t home. Either he had an intruder or Blanca had gone on a on a rampage. He wasn’t sure which would be worse.
Jack ran for the stairs with Silver on his heels. When he reached his bedroom door, he stopped long enough to throw a few words of caution over his shoulder. “I’ll go in first. Stay here. If I need you, I’ll let you know.”
Without waiting for a response, Jack opened the door and stepped inside. What he saw caused him to slam the door in Silver’s face. He didn’t want her to catch sight of Blanca. Although his cat had supposedly lost the power to shift a long time ago, she was no longer in cat form.
A young girl, taller than Silver, with a narrow frame and a mess of golden hair stood next to his bed. Her glittering green eyes focused on Jack’s stunned face. She said, “Sorry about the mess, but I had to get your attention.” Blanca lifted the hem of her shirt and said, “Look what she did to me.”
A bloody slash traveled from one side of her stomach to the other. His eyes went to the door. Confused, he asked, “Silver?”
“No. It was the other one.” She dropped to the edge of the bed, looking weak. “She tried to kill me. You can’t trust her. Stay away from her or she’ll try to kill you too. She’s crazy.”
“Who?”
Another round of banging drowned out what his shape-shifting cat was trying to tell him. Rolling her eyes, Blanca held her hand out, and he took it. Instead of a shock, he merely felt a tingle, but it was enough to flip his world upside-down. In seconds he was inside of Blanca, living the scene through the eyes of his cat.
******
Blanca chased a field mouse behind the barn. She leaped, caught its tail beneath her paw. She had it trapped. It would make a nice meal. There was a change in the air around her, a disturbing force of energy. Reluctantly she released the mouse.
A tremor rocked her sleek body. Before she could figure out what was going on, she’d morphed into her human counterpart. She held her hands out and stared at them in fascination. It had been too long since she’d walked upright. Her fingernails had dirt caked beneath them. Frowning, she looked around for the reason for her abrupt change. She was old enough to know something external had made her transform.
The werewolf girl strolled into the open, and a malicious grin stretched the brunette’s mouth. “Hey, kitty-kitty.”
“How did you find out about me? Did Jack tell you?”
“He didn’t have to. I could smell you the second I walked through the front door of Jack’s house. Do cats watch television?” Blanca didn’t answer, so Isobel added, “Sometimes I watch old westerns. There’s always someone telling someone else to get out of town. To quote one bad actor, this town ain’t big enough for the two of us.”
The werewolf girl wanted to kill her. Now that she had the power to change, Blanca transformed herself into a new shape. Isobel’s mouth fell open. Taken aback by what she saw, she slowly shook her head and asked, “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Blanca had become Isobel’s twin. Grinning, she said, “I find most people are distracted when they have to fight themselves. It messes with their sense of self-preservation. They just don’t want to hurt themselves, and they can’t stand the thought of seeing themselves dead.”
Isobel drew a hand back and hit Blanca hard across the face. “That’s okay. I’ve been a real bitch lately.” The hand returned, reverse direction. She struck Blanca a second time and added, “I probably deserve to have my ass kicked.”
With a hiss, Blanca jumped on Isobel. Her legs wound around the other girl’s waist. Isobel couldn’t handle the added weight. She stumbled backwards. They both went down in a cloud of dust. Instead of using fists, they clawed at each other.
The werewolf girl was stronger. When Blanca realized she couldn’t win, she tried to retreat. She jumped off Isobel and tried to run, but Isobel grabbed her by a huge clump of dark brown hair. The werewolf girl jerked her backwards and swung her around. Blanca’s hair was released so abruptly, she almost fell.
Isobel sliced her open with invisible claws.
Blanca returned to her natural-blond girl form. She gaped at the bleeding wound and her torn sweater. Anger swelled up inside of her. Her favorite shirt was destroyed. She was going to kill the werewolf girl, even if it meant she would have to die with her.
However, by the time she looked around again, she realized she was alone.
Isobel was long gone.
******
Jack returned to his own body in a flash. He shook his head in total disbelief. Blanca had added a new major problem to the pile he was already juggling. He glared down at her with an accusing gaze. “You told me you didn’t have enough power to hold a human form anymore. You lied.”
“I didn’t.” Her eyes went north, and she hissed between her teeth. “For some reason whenever I’m around werewolves, I get a burst of energy. It’s like pure power. That’s why I ran when she came inside the firs time. I didn’t want her to know that I’m a shape-shifter. Now that she’s gone, I’m growing weaker by the second. I can’t…”
Silver began banging on the door again and shouting his name. He didn’t have time to reason with his cat. Silver would get an axe and break the door down soon if he didn’t let her inside. Or worse, she’d call her parents.
Blanca laid down with one hand on her forehead and the other on her injured stomach. How was he going to explain this? She needed to transform. Now.
He shook a finger at her. “The only reason I allowed you to stay here is because you told me your powers had dried up, and I felt sorry for you. I can’t have a shape-shifter running around loose, not in this town.”
Blanca opened her mouth to speak. Before she got a single word out, her entire body convulsed. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She flopped around on the bed like a fish out of water. In seconds she was a cat again. The poor thing looked wiped out, but at least the wound had healed. Jack couldn’t stay mad at her. He scooped her off the bed and carried her to the door. He needed to get some food into her. Shifting and healing had probably zapped all of her strength.
After opening the door, he told Silver, “Blanca’s sick. I need to take care of her.”
“Should we take her to the vet?”
“No. I know what to do for her. This isn’t the first time she’s had an attack. You go home and get started on the trap for Isobel. I’ll be there as soo
n as I can.”
Jack ran a hand down the length of the cat’s body. He felt the tremors through his fingertips. Poor thing. He was the only family Blanca had. Sometimes she went a little overboard with jealousy, but she was sweet for the most part. At least she was as nice as a shape-shifter could be.
******
Chapter Ten:
THE EXCEPTION
Betrayal.
The word shivered over his nerves as he peered into Silver’s kitchen.
It was dark by the time Jack reached her house. He stood outside of the kitchen window, stunned by the sight of the four laughing people sitting around the table. Ian Carver was with the Reign family, acting as though he belonged there. Silver hadn’t mentioned knowing the teacher. She had lied to him by omission. Why? What was the big deal about knowing the man?
The teacher reached over, rubbed the top of Silver’s head with the fondness that comes from time. Her parents continued to laugh as if the teacher had told a particularly good joke. Whatever it was, it wasn’t funny to Jack.
He pressed his hands against the sides of the window and leaned closer. If someone chose that moment to look up, they would see him, but he didn’t care. A huge boulder settled in his stomach. Familiar words taunted him. Beware of Silver, Jack. Betrayal will lead to your death.
The entire plan of trapping Isobel lost its sense of importance. Every time Silver smiled at the teacher it drove another nail through his heart. It hurt to breathe. He had no idea what he should do next. Confronting her might lead to a serious conversation, one that would have him on the losing end. What could she possibly say to make this better?
Jack had run to her house using his supernatural speed, but when he left, he chose to walk. His shoulders slumped under the heavy weight of betrayal. He didn’t care if it took him all night to get home. He needed time alone to think anyway. By the time he reached the main road, he had settled on a plan.
Silver and her family didn’t have to know he’d seen them with the teacher. Tomorrow he would pretend nothing had changed. They wouldn’t suspect a thing, and he’d be able to keep an eye on them. Somehow he’d figure out what they were up to. If nothing else, he could use his power to eavesdrop on scenes from the past.
Headlights in the distance warned of an approaching car. Jack stepped to the side of the road. He hoped it wasn’t Billy. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone, not even his brother.
The car slowed as it pulled up beside him. It wasn’t a familiar vehicle. The tinted window on the driver’s side rolled down. He hunched over and peered inside. Isobel was at the wheel. Somehow it looked all wrong, too modern for her.
She grinned at him. “Can I give you a lift, stranger?”
“I don’t hitchhike. It’s dangerous.” Especially if you got into a car with a hunter slash werewolf. He couldn’t be in more danger if he stuck his head into the mouth of a cranky tiger. “I thought you were supposed to be staying the night at Silver’s house.”
“I decided to blow her off.”
“When did you decide that?”
“Just now. When I saw you. Get in. I’ll give you a ride to wherever you’re going.”
Jack straightened his spine and looked down the road as far as he could see. He’d wanted to be alone, but Isobel showing up could prove to be the best thing that had happened all night. She might answer a few questions if he asked them in the right way. Nodding once, he circled the car and got inside.
Instead of driving, Isobel sat still for a moment, watching him with an odd look on her face. “Where do you want me to take you?”
He’d been headed home, but it was actually the last place he wanted to be right now. Since he couldn’t be with Silver, couldn’t trust her, he felt lost, and he realized something else too. He didn’t feel comfortable anywhere. Not at home. Not at school. Not even in his own skin.
Isobel said. “Let me surprise you. I know exactly where we should go.”
Dangerous. The word popped into his head again. He nodded, feeling reckless. His hands itched to hold a cigarette. It had been months since his last smoke, but he continued to miss it, especially when he got nervous. “You got a cigarette on you?”
“Glove compartment.”
A strange question entered his mind. He knew he shouldn’t ask it. Sometimes curiosity led a person down a dark, twisted path that there was no coming back from. He shrugged. What the hell. “Did I smoke before… when I was Tobias?”
Isobel drove the car passed the turnoff to his house. The car’s interior was dark, no streetlights this far out of town, but Jack could see her every change of expression. She appeared amused—like Jersey. He wondered if it was a common werewolf trait. With a half-smile in his direction, she said, “You did a lot of things when you were Tobias.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What do you want to know?”
He took a deep breath before releasing a stream of questions. “How did I die? Was Jersey a part of my life? Did I know Silver? What happened to her?”
“Hold on.” Isobel held a hand up, and she laughed. “I can’t answer if you don’t save a few questions for next year.”
Jack settled back in the seat and waited for the information he craved. His need for a cigarette faded. When she told him about Tobias, it was like listening to a story about a stranger. Nothing sounded familiar. He had to keep reminding himself that she was talking about him.
“Tobias started out the same way that Jack Creed did,” she said. “He was human until a vampire bit him. Later on a werewolf attack turned him human, sort of human. He had powers just like you do, but Tobias embraced the werewolf inside of him. His powers grew stronger. He enjoyed having a lot of power. Do you?”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t enjoy anything about this.” He stared out the window for a second, visually taking in the night. The half moon hid behind a curtain of clouds. It was eerie, like a bad movie, one of the movies he used to watch as a kid at three in the morning when his parents were out. “During my decade as a vampire I wanted to be human, wanted to be normal. After the werewolf infected me, I got my chance, but it wasn’t real. I’m not really human. I’m definitely not normal.”
She snorted. “Normal. Being normal is highly overrated. You have the potential to be a star. You could live forever and become what you were meant to be.”
And here it comes, the hard sell. Jersey’s only female werewolf wanted him to embrace the dark side once again. She was going to try to convince him that his life would be better if he gave up his humanity. He should have asked her to take him home.
Hoping to distract her, he asked, “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you somewhere private where we can talk.”
Talk? Right. If she wanted to talk, they could have talked in the car. She was up to something. Just like Silver. What was it with the girls in his life? It didn’t seem like he could trust anyone anymore.
“I’m too tired to talk,” he said. “Turn around. You can drop me off at my house and still make it to Silver’s for the overnight.”
Smiling, she continued to drive. For a moment he thought she might be looking for a place to turn around, but she wasn’t going to return him to his house. He considered grabbing the steering wheel and stomping on the brake. If he wanted to, he could make her take him home.
“Is Jersey waiting for us?” he asked. “Are you setting me up?”
“What makes you think I’m working with Jersey?”
Jack blinked at her a few times. “Are you serious? You killed me for him back when I was Tobias, didn’t you?”
She shook her head. “That is not what happened.”
“Then what did happen? Tell me. I know you were responsible for my death. I could see it in your eyes the last time we talked about it. How did you do it? How did you kill me?”
“I didn’t kill you.” She pulled the car into a field and stopped. Her dark eyes pierced him with a fierce glare. “Jersey killed you. I played a small part in i
t. It was my fault for believing we were stronger than him. I never meant for it to end the way it did, and you will never know how truly sorry I am that Tobias died.”
Isobel got out of the car. She leaned back in and asked, “Are you going to sit here all night? Or are you going to come with me so I can show you what I need to show you?”
Jack folded his arms in defiance. “I am not budging from this car until you tell me why we’re here. What do you want to show me?”
“I’m going to show you how to suck souls out.”
He remained in the car, jaw slack as she slammed the door shut and walked away. She only went a few feet. Hands on hips, she stared up at the night sky, waiting for him to join her. He had no choice. His curiosity drove him to her. The implications of her bold statement had him quaking in his blue sneakers. Only Silver could suck souls out. At least that’s what he’d been led to believe.
Jack undid his seatbelt in a hurry. He rushed to exit the car. In seconds he was standing next to the brunette girl in the open field. Her eyes were still on the sky, annoying him. He asked, “You can teach me to suck souls? How?”
A wicked smile touched her lips. “It’s easier than you might think. You have the power already inside of you. We just need to cultivate it.”
“How do you know?”
“You got the power when the werewolf attacked you.” She finally turned in his direction. Her dark eyes rested on his face like a familiar caress. “It’s originally a werewolf power. Bet no one told you that, huh? Silver has the power because the faerie that created werewolves used some spell to send the power down her family tree until it got to Silver.”
His head was spinning. Did Silver know about this? “Wait a second. All werewolves have the power?”
“Not really,” Isobel admitted. She started to walk farther away from the car, and he tagged along, eager to hear the rest. “Only the most powerful werewolves can harness the power. For instance, if someone got infected by a werewolf today they wouldn’t be able to suck souls out for at least three hundred years. It comes with time.”
