by K. C. Blake
Jack frowned. “I’ve lived more than twice? How many times have we done this dance?”
Although he knew about being Tobias, for some reason it hadn’t occurred to him that he’d lived other lives. How many times had he tried to kill Jersey? And what about Silver? Had she died at Jersey’s hands ten times? Twenty times? Thirty?
“I have lost track.” Jersey walked in a slow circle around Jack as he explained. “I admit it took me centuries to put it together myself. Like you, I didn’t believe in reincarnation. Then one night I had a dream about you and Tobias, and I realized you have the same eyes. Why I didn’t recognize those eyes I’ll never fully comprehend. Maybe I did not want to face the truth.”
“The truth?” Jack folded arms over his chest.
Jersey grinned. “I am the first werewolf.”
“I know that already.”
“Aw, yes, but did you know this?” Jersey lifted a finger to accentuate his point. For a moment they were back in the classroom and Jersey was teaching. His eyes sparkled with knowledge, and he wore a smug smile. “Did you know that you were the first vampire?”
Jack shook his head to clear it. He must have heard the insane werewolf wrong. There was no way that he had been the first vampire created. That would mean he’d been the other man in Lovely’s life. It would mean that he and Jersey had fought over the faerie, and she’d changed him into a vampire to hold onto them both.
As if reading his mind, Jersey grinned again and said, “Yes!” He slammed a fist into the palm of his hand. “Over three thousand years ago you and I were the best of friends, but we fell in love with the same woman. When she chose you, I killed her.” There was a brief pause, and Jersey stopped smiling. “I killed you both.”
“We were friends three thousand years ago?” Jack tried to wrap his mind around what Jersey was saying. “We fell in love with the same girl?”
“That is correct.” With a wistful look on his face, Jersey said, “We grew up in the same small town. Our families were close, and we became closer than brothers. Then we fell for the same sweet girl.”
“Wait a second.” Jack’s expression turned grim. “You told me that some old lady raised you and your best friend together.”
“Did I?” Jersey’s eyes twinkled with amusement.
Jack shouted, “You are such a liar! You’ve been lying to me this whole time.”
“No,” Jersey denied the accusation. “There is always some truth in every lie. They tangle together in a tightly woven trap. Your mission is to figure out which part is the lie and which part is the truth. What part did I make up?”
Mentally exhausted, Jack knew he had to rip himself out of the dream or lose his grip on reality forever. He was tired of playing Jersey’s games. Which part was the lie? All of it. No longer fooled, Jack decided the head werewolf had lied about everything. Until he found evidence to the contrary, he wasn’t buying any of it. There was no way that he had been the first vampire in history.
Jack squeezed his eyes shut tight and willed himself to wake up.
******
Unwittingly he took a deep breath and pain ripped through his entire body, grounding him in reality. Memory returned with the subtlety of a charging bull. The Albino Vampire had shot him with four silver bullets. He should be dead, but he wasn’t. Death would have been kinder. Maybe Jersey had told the truth about one thing. Maybe Jack couldn’t die unless Jersey killed him.
A soft hand soothed his heated brow and a sweet voice spoke in gentle tones, saying, “Don’t move. You need to keep still. Ian removed the bullets, but you lost a lot of blood. We dosed you with some of mine. It’s fighting the poison, but it hasn’t completely worked yet. You haven’t healed.”
Silver was on the bed, sitting with her back against the headboard. Half of his upper body rested on her. She cradled his head with her arms. With a tender touch, she stroked damp hair away from his face. He seemed to be perspiring harder than a guy who’d just completed a grueling day-long marathon.
Jack thought about the things Jersey had said in the dream. He didn’t want to pile more problems onto Silver’s pretty head, but he had to talk about it. He had to try to figure out if any of it was true. After taking a few easy breaths, he spoke to her in slow, halted English. “Saw Jersey... in dream... told me... crazy stuff.”
“Forget about him. Whatever he told you, it isn’t important.”
“This is... says I’m... first vampire.”
There was a lengthy pause before Silver spoke again. “That’s ridiculous. Lovely would have put it in the diary if it was true.”
“Would she?”
“Why would you even ask that?”
Because the faerie might have reason to lie to them. He didn’t trust her any more than he trusted Jersey. For a while he had given her the benefit of the doubt, thinking that the times she was wrong about things were just mistakes. But maybe they weren’t. Maybe the faerie had been using her diary to lie to them, to manipulate them into doing her dirty work for her.
Since Silver trusted the diary, he kept his opinion to himself. Telling her his suspicions would make her angry and start a fight. At the moment he didn’t feel up to arguing with her. Instead, he pointed out, “She’s been wrong... about a lot of stuff.”
“You scared me tonight,” Silver said, changing the subject. “When you didn’t come back inside, I went to my parents. Good thing too. A couple of minutes later and you would have been dead.”
“Did you graduate? I missed it.”
“Dad videotaped it.”
“Not the same thing.” He tilted his head back enough so he could see her face. “I’m sorry. Wanted to be there. Billy... set me up.”
Silver smiled down at him and stroked the side of his face. “I know. Don’t worry about him. I convinced mom and dad to leave him alone. No one is hunting him.”
“Thank you. He doesn’t know... what he’s doing.”
She bent over and placed her cool lips on his hot forehead. Her hair brushed his cheek, and his insides melted. Eyes closed, he floated on soft clouds. Lovely might have lied about some stuff, but she had totally written the truth about them. He and Silver belonged together. Nothing and no one would ever keep them apart. He made a silent vow to do whatever it took to make Silver happy, even if it meant letting her leave for college without him.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Promise. Somehow we’re going to work out everything. We’ll destroy Jersey.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is. Remember the dream when we stood together against him and he couldn’t hurt us? We can do it in real life too. I know we can. We will stand together and take him down.”
Jack wished he was as sure as Silver sounded. They didn’t have the magic rock anymore, thanks to his thieving, shape-shifting cat. Silver’s ability to suck souls hadn’t reached its zenith yet, and he wasn’t up for the task either. Was there another way to kill Jersey? If there was, he wished Lovely would let them in on it, because he had no idea what to do.
“We’re going to kill him,” Silver repeated in a strong voice. “Believe it.”
“Okay. I’ll try.”
“Nothing can stop us, Jack. We’re young and in love. Love is more powerful than anything or anyone. Believe that.”
He nodded and smiled for her benefit. Reaching up, he moved strands of honey blonde hair so he could see her face clearly. “I love you, and that’s something you can always believe.”
Silver told him to close his eyes and rest for a while. She sang to him in a soft voice that he could barely hear. In seconds he was sinking into a peaceful darkness. The melody kept him company and chased away his inner demons. When he fell asleep, he dreamed about his mom. Sitting at the kitchen table, she welcomed him home with a sunny smile. The two of them needed to talk. As he joined her at the table, he realized that she had to tell him something important.
Happiness at seeing her faded, and his body stiffened. “What is it?” he de
manded to know.
Her smile evaporated. She reached out a hand for him, but he eluded her grasp. He didn’t need comfort from her. He only wanted the truth. She sighed and gave it to him. The words rolled through his mind again and again in a horrible chant that followed him from dream to dream.
A new sadness filled his heart.
One more devastating secret added itself to the huge pile he was already carrying by himself. The weight threatened to crush him. What was he supposed to do with this new truth? How was he going to handle it without Billy at his side?
******
####
Other Books by K. C. Blake:
SHIFTERS RULE
Coming soon
CRUSHED
Available now
