Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 83

Trina blew on wet fingernails. "Hmm. Tell me something. Is he as hot in person as he was in your dreams?"

Silver blushed, picturing his rock hard abs. "Oh yeah."

They both squealed in delight and clasped hands for a moment. One of Trina's fingernails got smudged. She rolled her eyes before grabbing the polish again.

"Describe him to me," Trina said.

"He has dark hair, a little long for me, but it looks good on him. The bangs fall into his eyes a lot. It makes him look ultra-mysterious, and his eyes are like the prettiest green I've ever seen. I don't need a jury for this one. He's guilty of being totally hot."

Trina squealed again.

Silver got up and went to the window. She looked down on the backyard, watched Trina's brother playing with an invisible sword. Things were so simple when you were a kid.

"I wanted to kiss him," she admitted.

"In-tense!" Trina jumped off her bed. "Why didn't you do it?"

"Because it wouldn't be fair." She turned to look at her friend. "I'm keeping a huge secret from him. You know that. He has no idea who I am or what we're supposed to do. If I kissed him, it would make things even more complicated."

"I know I'm not a hunter and I don't get it, but why don't you just tell him everything? Purge your soul. Tell him that you've been dreaming about him since you were twelve. Then kiss him like there's no tomorrow."

Silver was afraid to tell Jack what she knew because his reaction couldn't be predicted. He could refuse to talk to her again. He could refuse to co-operate. Or he could suck it up and deal with it like she had. She wished there was some way of knowing before she opened her mouth.

"You have to tell him," Trina said. "I mean, there's no way around it, right? It's destiny."

"You're right. I have to tell him."

But first she was going to figure out how to tell him in the best way possible. If she could put a positive spin on it, he might accept the information better. Maybe she should enlist his brother's help.

Silver nodded, determined. "I'll do it. The second I get the chance I will tell him he's in terrible danger. I'll tell him now that his powers are gone he's going to have every crazy werewolf and vampire in the area after him. Not to mention hunters, of course."

"Totally intense."

It was Jack's first time in detention. Although he had pulled a few pranks in the past, he hadn't gotten caught. He didn't think detention was as bad as the name implied. Four other students joined him in a cla.s.sroom with about thirty desks. He chose to sit near the back. Jersey Clifford had them spread out so they wouldn't be tempted to talk, which wasn't a problem for Jack since he didn't know anyone except for the teacher. Besides, he needed time alone with his thoughts. Jersey told them to study or start on their homework. Jack dropped his gaze to the book in front of him and pretended to do exactly that.

For the entire hour Jersey's penetrating eyes were on one student: Jack. The teacher's fascination with him boggled the mind.

Jack kept his head down, refusing to acknowledge the teacher. He stared at words on a stark-white page until they blurred together. His lips moved as he pretended to read, but he was thinking about Silver and what had happened in the hallway. Touching her hand had somehow given him a ticket to spy on her memories. Only it was more complicated than that. He'd been inside of her head, living the scene as Silver.

He had no idea how long he'd stood there staring at her like a brain-dead moron. By the time he snapped back to reality, she was waving a hand in front of his face and calling his name, clearly exasperated.

Jack kept his new power a secret. She already wanted him to drop out of school. If she knew the vampire-reverse might be temporary, she'd tell Billy. Then the two of them would confine him to his bedroom. Maybe Billy would even get the stake out.

The thought of turning back into a vampire made him sick to his stomach. He had a second chance to live, and he wasn't going to waste it. No one was going to stop him from attending school for as long as he reasonably could.

Being a vampire hadn't been a hundred percent awful. He missed the heightened sense of smell the most. Cowboy would die laughing if he ever found that out because Jack had complained about the smells before. The nastiest smells clung to the inside of his nostrils, refusing to depart until Cowboy introduced him to cigarettes. Chain-smoking helped them cope.

And now he missed it (the sense of smell, not the cigarettes). Actually, if he was going to be honest, he missed being able to smell Silver the way he had at the cemetery. He also missed being able to hear her heart beat from several yards away. In a strange way he even missed being able to hear the blood rus.h.i.+ng through her veins.

On the other hand, he didn't miss wanting to feed on her.

"Didn't you hear me?" Jersey hovered over Jack. He gestured to the empty cla.s.sroom. "Everyone's gone home. You don't strike me as one p.r.o.ne to daydreaming, Jack. Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"

Jersey sat on the edge of the adjacent desk. His tall and lanky body moved with graceful, fluid motions. The man could have been a ballet dancer in a former life.

"It's nothing."

"You can trust me." Jersey eyes narrowed. "I can see the grief in your eyes. It darkens the soul. You know, I recently lost someone very close to me. He was like a brother. He died suddenly. It was a shock."

"I'm...sorry." Jack s.h.i.+fted in the desk, uncomfortable under the scrutiny of Jersey's probing gaze. The man was a starving dog with a meaty bone. He wasn't going to turn loose. Jack admitted, "I lost my friends too. They aren't dead, but they might as well be. I'll never see them again."

Jersey quoted, "I loved-but those I loved are gone, had friends-my early friends are fled. How cheerless feels the heart alone when all its former hopes are dead."

"Lord Byron." Jack smiled at Jersey's stunned expression.

Cowboy had insisted he spend his vampire years defying gravity, the speed of light, and every other mortal law, but Lily had pushed him to read and learn to appreciate beauty whether it was the written word, cla.s.sical music, or an abstract painting. He owed her big time.

"Do you want to talk about your friends? It might help."

"I don't think so. I'm not really much of a talker."

"More of an action man, huh?" Jersey grinned. "I have a feeling you and I have a lot in common, a lot more than meets the eye."

Jersey patted him on the shoulder. For a moment the hand froze to him as if stuck. The teacher stared at him with a look of total disbelief.

"Is something wrong?" Jack asked.

Jersey removed his hand promptly. He swallowed several times and took a few steps away from Jack. Something was wrong. Something had changed between them. Jack didn't understand what or why.

He stood, picked up his textbooks, and headed for the door. He didn't want to talk to the English teacher about his vampire friends anymore. The only person he wanted to talk to was Silver. She was forefront in his mind. He didn't know what he would say to her, but he knew he had to see her.

Jersey followed him to the door. Jack looked back at him once and saw that odd expression still on his face. He couldn't label it. It seemed to be a mixture of confusion and awe.

"I'm still trying to figure out where I know you from," Jersey said. "No luck yet, but I'll continue to work on it."

Fabulous. Jack wondered how long it would take the English teacher to piece it together. It was another thing he couldn't tell Silver about. She would hit the roof if she knew the teacher thought he looked familiar. To her it would be one more reason why he shouldn't show his face in public, especially not at Jefferson Memorial.

Chapter Six:.

THE WEREWOLF POPULATION GROWS.

During the next two weeks Jack found a routine he could live with. He went to school, did his homework, and tried to stay out of trouble. Silver stopped pus.h.i.+ng him to drop out, but she still shot him warning glares now and again. He found a couple of new friends. Even Billy seemed to relax, let down his guard...

...and isn't that when the bad stuff always happens?

Another school day ended on a quiet note. Jack searched the building for Silver after the last bell rang. He had been talking to a teacher about making up the work he'd missed at the start of the semester while he'd been running around the country with his vampire friends. Of course he left out the vampire part. He'd expected to find Silver standing outside the door when he got done, but the hallway was empty.

Jack wandered around for ten minutes before deciding she must be waiting for him in the parking lot.

His footsteps echoed in the long hallway. Being in school without anyone else around was unsettling. But was he alone? The hairs p.r.i.c.kled on the back of his neck, signaling trouble. Curious eyes watched him. He didn't know where they were. However, he could feel them burning a hole into his skull... or maybe it was just his imagination. No one except for the English teacher had shown any interest in the new kid, and Jersey Clifford had left for the day.

Still, the nagging feeling lingered. He thought he heard metal sc.r.a.ping the floor as if something was being dragged. Another sound caught his attention. He jerked his head to the left and saw a brown blur move behind the row of lockers, out of view. Maybe someone was spying on him. Even paranoid people had enemies.

Around the opposite corner a door banged against the wall. Loud voices struggled for dominion. The words were unintelligible. It sounded like a group of geese chattering on their way south for the winter. A piercing whistle cut through the noise.

"All right, everyone, calm down!" The female voice held authority. Jack knew it belonged to a teacher before he rounded the bend. The Drama teacher, Ms. Tomlin said, "I'll call for an ambulance. Give him room to breathe."

She sprinted down the hallway to the main office.

Students crowded around a p.r.o.ne figure lying on the floor. The boy kicked and writhed like he was being electrocuted. Students whispered concerned words to each other as they watched his face grow redder by the minute. He cried out in pain and twisted in agony. No one knew what to do for him.

The boy's eyes bulged, threatening to pop out of his head. His face turned an unnatural shade of red that couldn't possibly be real. A cloud of visible steam burst off his cheeks like a boiling tea kettle releasing built-up pressure. Several gasps shot into the air. One of the girls shrieked. The students simultaneously jumped away from him, terrified. As if by mutual consent they fell into a state of shocked silence.

Jack went to the boy, knelt beside him, instinctively knowing what was wrong. The kid had been infected by a werewolf, and it was too late for anyone to save him. On the next full moon he would go crazy, probably kill somebody. The only way to stop that from happening was to kill him first.

A tall girl with short hair and freckles raced to the boy's side with a wet towel in her hand. She'd missed the weird steam thing and didn't know she shouldn't go near him. Going to her knees on the opposite side that Jack was on, she placed the towel on his forehead before Jack could stop her. It was never a good idea to get that close to a werewolf, even a newbie. Confused, the boy reacted. He swiped at her. Light glinted off metallic claws that only Jack could see.

"Hey!" The girl cradled her injured hand against her chest. "He scratched me."

Jack stood and took three steps backwards.

Silver appeared on the scene, out of breath from running. She grabbed Jack's arm and asked, "What happened?"

He gestured to the kid on the floor.

The boy's face had lost some of the redness, and he wasn't perspiring anymore. The worst seemed to be over.

Jack took Silver by the arm and dragged her away from the crowd. He quickly explained everything including how the girl had been scratched, ending with, "Now she's infected, too."

"This has never happened before." Silver shook her head at him. "I realize we have a bit of a werewolf population problem around here, but they tend to stay in the wilderness. They rarely infect anyone. Mostly they just kill their victims."

"What do we do about it?"

Silver bit her lower lip for a second before saying, "There's nothing we can do."

"Will you suck their souls out?" He hadn't meant it to sound like an accusation.

She frowned at him and pulled him even further away from the others. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"My power only works on them when they're in wolf form. It takes a while for a new werewolf to learn to morph. Lovely's diary says someday I'll be able to suck souls out any time I want, but I need to develop my power first. My parents told me I'm going to have to train for a long time."

The Drama teacher returned with Princ.i.p.al Hardwick in tow. They helped the young man to his feet and walked him back to the office. Hardwick scowled at Silver and Jack as if he suspected they had something to do with the boy's problem. After the sick boy was out of sight, the group of teens broke apart. They drifted down the hall, still discussing what they'd seen.

Silver said, "I don't know how I'll ever be ready to take on the head werewolf when my parents won't let me practice. There's always some excuse. It's a school night or they think I should spend time with kids my own age or they've grounded me over something stupid." She smiled and a mischievous glint entered her eyes. "I sneak out though."

Jack had suspected as much. "You sneak out to fight werewolves?"

"That's right." She headed for the door, leaving Jack to follow. He stood there for an extended period of time, shocked at the entire situation. If he didn't go after her, she'd probably leave him at school, so he ran outside. Once he caught up with her in the parking lot, she said, "That's why I was in the cemetery the night we met. Lucky you. If I hadn't been there, that werewolf would have shredded you."

If she hadn't been there, Jack wouldn't have been attacked, but he kept his opinions to himself. There was something else he wanted to talk about. There were secrets in her eyes.

What was she keeping from him?

They drove in silence for almost ten minutes. Jack knew Silver wanted to tell him everything that was on her mind, spill her secrets. He gazed out the pa.s.senger side window at the pa.s.sing scenery, giving her time to acc.u.mulate her thoughts.

Maybe he should go first, tell her he knew about the secret she'd been keeping. Of course he only knew fragments and if he admitted that much, she'd want to know how he knew. That was his secret.

"It wasn't some random coincidence that brought you here," she finally said. Her eyes stayed focused on the road. "You were meant to be here at this time. You were meant to find me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Destiny."

Jack rolled his eyes. How many times had he heard that meaningless word tumble from Lily's lips? He was with Cowboy on this one. Without thinking about it first he repeated one of Cowboy's favorite sayings. "There's no such animal. We create our own futures."

"We do," Silver agreed, "for the most part. But sometimes destiny has a hand in it. You aren't going to like what I'm about to tell you. I hope you'll listen with an open mind." She paused for a second before blurting it out. "Lovely wrote about you in her diary. She talked about a boy who would change from vampire to mortal. It has to be you. What are the odds that someone else will reverse from a vampire to human?"

A few questions floated through Jack's mind, but he kept his mouth shut. He wanted to let her finish. She needed to answer the most important question of all: What exactly did this 'destiny' entail? What was he supposed to do?

Silver spared him a quick glance.

He waited with a patient exterior even though he was on the verge of exploding-and not because of the sunlight.

"We have to kill the head werewolf, the first werewolf."

"Oh, is that all?"

"I'm serious, Jack." Her eyes darted to him, probably checking to see if his hand was on the door handle yet. She added, "If we kill the head werewolf, all other werewolves will revert to their human selves again. We'll be saving the world."

"I don't want to save the world. I just want to finish high school with a decent grade point average. Anyway, what's with the 'we' stuff? You're Silver. Aren't you the one who needs to kill the werewolves? Why drag me into it?"

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I can't do it myself because I'm not old enough, and my powers aren't fully developed yet."

"So? I can't suck souls out."