Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 84

"In the diary Lovely explains she added a fail-safe in case something should happen to me before I can do my job. There's a stone with magical powers, and it's been pa.s.sed down through my family line along with the diary and the necklace. You are the only one who can use the stone."

"Lucky me." He s.h.i.+fted in his seat, uncomfortable, and tried hard to control the snarl threatening to erupt from his throat. If she heard it, she would know he hadn't completely turned human, that she was wrong about him being her hero. He remained a monster in disguise. His fists clenched on his lap.

"All you have to do is touch the werewolf with the stone. Lovely has already done the rest."

That didn't sound hard. He could probably manage to do it between cla.s.ses and homework, if the rock actually worked. Then he could have his life back. "Fine. Give me the magic rock and point me in the right direction."

There was a long pause from her side of the car.

"I can't," she finally said, tagging a frustrated sigh onto the end. "I don't have the stone, and I haven't figured out who the head werewolf is yet."

Jack relaxed against the seat with a smile. He hoped he got points for agreeing to help. It wasn't his fault she hadn't done the legwork. He was off the hook. Good for him.

"I can find out who it is though," she said. "Lovely wrote about him, about the three of us, in her diary. According to her the three of us will gravitate towards each other without even realizing it. We can't help it. It's our destiny."

There was that word again. "You think the head werewolf lives around here?"

She nodded.

"We can go out a few times," he said, "kill all the werewolves we stumble across. Maybe we'll get him by accident."

"You don't understand." She hesitated before delivering more bad news. "The stone only works once. We have to be sure the guy you use it on is actually the head werewolf before you touch him with it. Otherwise it's worthless, and we've lost the advantage."

"Why can't you just have patience, grow up, develop your power and kill him yourself?"

He hated feeling like a petty jerk, but he'd just gotten his life back. He was mortal, at least for the moment, and he wanted to enjoy it. No telling how much time he had left. He wanted to do the things he'd missed while being a vampire. Was a little me time too much to ask for?

"There's going to be a war," she said. "Someday-I a.s.sume it's soon since you're here-the head werewolf is going to raise an army. He's going to start infecting people left and right. He may have already started. Once he has his army he's going to go to war with the vampires and wipe them out. Then he'll either turn the entire human race into werewolves or kill them."

"I don't think so." Jack patted his jacket pockets, feeling the urge for a cigarette before remembering he'd quit. "If there was a war, the vampires would win. Werewolves are notoriously stupid."

"Not all of them. Not this one. The older they are, the smarter they are. He's supposed to be brilliant, a real strategist according to Lovely."

"You don't have the magic rock," he reminded her. "We can't do anything without it. So even if you manage to figure out who the head werewolf is, we can't hurt him. What is the point of this conversation?"

"My mom keeps it in her sock drawer. She doesn't know that I know. We can take it whenever we want."

"Why does everyone want me dead?" He stared at her profile, searching for a hint because he didn't think she was going to tell him outright. "On my first night here you were talking in your sleep. You warned me to be careful because everyone wants me dead. What is that supposed to mean? Who is everyone, and why would they want me dead now when I can't hurt anyone?"

She wasn't going to tell him, but she was thinking about it. Jack decided to test his new power. He concentrated on what he wanted to know and laid a hand on top of hers.

An electric current shot through him...

Silver waited in the hallway for Jack to finish talking to his teacher.

Trina approached with six or seven books in her arms, not counting notebooks. In all the years Silver had known her, she'd only seen Trina use her locker twice. Silver suspected Trina didn't even remember where her locker was located anymore. With a look of annoyance the girl stopped and leaned backwards as she juggled text books, notebooks, and her purse. She struggled in vain to open her purse with one hand.

Silver stepped forward, ready to help, but it was too late. A book slid off the stack and fell to the floor. Rolling her eyes, Trina purposely let the rest of them go. The books. .h.i.t the floor with a loud boom and a few slid in opposite directions. She opened her purse and retrieved a tube of lip gloss. Smiling, she applied the pink tint to her lips while speaking.

"Your boyfriend is mega-intense," Trina announced. She compressed her lips together to equally distribute the gloss. "I cannot believe he attacked Tucker. Even without vampire powers he's super-cool. You are one lucky girl."

Silver wanted to deny the 'boyfriend' label, but she decided not to waste her breath. Trina only heard what Trina wanted to hear. Silver asked, "Can you get a ride home with someone else? I'm waiting for Jack."

"I'll wait with you. I don't mind being late."

"I kind of need to talk to him alone."

Trina's eyes widened. "You're going to tell him, aren't you?"

"Part of it."

"Which part?"

"Well, I think I'll tell him he has to kill the head werewolf. Maybe I'll mention the war. I don't think I'll tell him more than that right now because I don't want him to run for the Canadian border."

"Aren't you going to tell him he's in danger? I would think he'd want to know something like that, unless he's a complete moron."

Silver shook her head. "I can't. He's so happy being human. His eyes light up every time he talks about something normal like going to school or mowing the gra.s.s. I don't want to be the one to sink his dreams."

"Uh, don't you think he'll notice when he starts getting bursts of strength or running faster than lightning?" Trina stooped down to retrieve her books. "Anyway, how can he protect himself when he doesn't know he's in danger?"

"I'll protect him." Silver bent over to help Trina. She stacked a couple of books onto the pile in Trina's hands and added, "I can tell if a werewolf or a vampire is nearby. I'll make sure nothing kills him."

Trina made a face. "Sounds like a full-time job to me."

"He has a destiny to fulfill. He can't die before then. I think he's safe."

"Didn't you tell me Lovely has been wrong before?"

"Hey! I asked you a question! What's wrong with you?"

Silver's loud voice broke through the memory and transported him back to the present so fast he almost got whiplash. One second he was inside of Silver's head, talking to her best friend and the next, he was in the car again. Motion sickness made him feel nauseated. Silver tried to keep her eyes on the road, but continuously tore her gaze from it to look at him.

"Well?"

Maybe if he confronted her with what he knew she would accidentally spill some important information. He was sure she wouldn't hand him the truth without a fight. She seemed to have a problem with total honesty. Was it because she didn't trust him?

"I have my powers back."

"What?" Her eyes flew to his face. She lost control of the car. They weaved into oncoming traffic. He reached for the steering wheel, but she corrected the car before he could do anything to help. "What did you say?"

"I'm mortal again, so why do I have superhuman powers?"

Chapter Seven:.

MORE BAD NEWS FOR JACK.

Silver didn't answer him for nine miles.

He counted.

Jack stared at her profile. Her jaw tightened, and she swallowed several times while her hands gripped the steering wheel hard. She was doing her best to ignore him. It wasn't going to work. After ten years of living with Cowboy, putting up with his insane ideas, Jack had developed a bountiful amount of patience.

He cleared his throat.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

"What sort of powers are you talking about?" Her tone emerged light and casual, but her stiff facial muscles gave her away. She wanted the information more than she wanted her next breath.

He wasn't sure how much to tell her. "I growled at my cat without meaning to."

"I don't think growling is considered a power. Regular people growl all the time."

"It sounded inhuman." He leaned closer, intentionally making her nervous. "If you don't give me the whole story now, I'm going to ask your father."

She choked. "What? What does my father have to do with anything?"

"He has Lovely's diary. Maybe I should read it for myself."

"He won't give it to you."

"We'll see. I can be very persuasive."

She jerked the steering wheel to the left in a sharp turn that threw Jack against the pa.s.senger side door. They weren't headed in the direction of his farmhouse anymore. She was up to something. He returned to his original sitting position and watched the pa.s.sing scenery. He wasn't going to get anything out of her. No sense in asking her more questions.

They turned onto her street and stopped in front of her house. It was a cute two-story home with white siding and black shutters. The garage door was open, revealing a monster-sized truck. Silver's father was somewhere inside that house.

Silver killed the engine. "Time to meet the parents."

"Are you sure?"

"You want the truth? They're part of it. Besides, my mom can explain the legend better than I can. She's read the diary a thousand times."

Jack stared up at the house, tried to imagine what was waiting for him inside. After years spent avoiding the company of hunters, it seemed crazy to him to waltz in and introduce himself to two of them. They could stake him before Silver laid out his position.

"Relax," she said with a cheeky grin. "I'll protect you."

She exited the vehicle first and met him on the pa.s.senger side. Smiling, she held her hand out to him. He took it, lacing his fingers between hers. It was the first time they'd held hands. They fit perfectly, two parts of the same puzzle. Her hand was warm and silky, yet strong. She pulled him behind her. They walked the cement path to her porch steps.

This was the happiest he'd ever felt-even if he was about to get killed.

Silver's parents reminded Jack of a wrestling tag team. From the moment he crossed the threshold they took turns ripping him apart. Andrew Reigns had a hard mouth and cold eyes, and Vanessa looked like an older version of Silver, but she was every bit as intimidating as her husband. If he had to pick one of them to be locked in a tiny room with, he wasn't sure which one would be the safest choice.

After entering their home Jack was promptly led to the formal dining room where the four of them gathered around the large table. Cowboy had taught him to get to know his enemies by looking at their environment. The way a person lived revealed more details about them than their words, so he took a moment to look around.

The house was clean but not immaculate, not like Silver's room. It was cozy with a lived in feeling, the kind of place his mother would have enjoyed. Decorated in country fas.h.i.+on with bare wood furniture, homemade items, and simplistic drawings of cows on various things like the cookie jar, it contradicted the rigid people Silver's parents portrayed themselves to be.

Andrew sat at the head of the table with his wife on the other end. He waved Jack to a chair in the middle. Silver hung in the background, an interested observer. Jack noted how close she stayed to his chair. She'd meant it when she'd said she would protect him from her parents.

As soon as he sat down the inquisition began.

"Why are you hanging out with our daughter?" Andrew demanded to know.

"Did you try to attack her before the werewolf got you?" Vanessa asked. "Is that how you met?"

Andrew didn't give him a chance to answer before he shot another question at him. "What are you going to do about your vampire friends? You can't possibly expect us to believe they're going to take your defection lying down?"

Sweat formed in the pits under his arms, making him more uncomfortable. It felt like the temperature had gone up eighty degrees. He opened his mouth to respond to a question, but he didn't get a chance before another round started. Questions flew over his head like rapid gunfire. A few barely even registered before another dozen zipped by. It soon became clear that these hunters didn't want answers. They were trying to prove he was dangerous, convince Silver that he needed to die.

"And what makes you think you can go back to school as if nothing has happened?" Vanessa gave her husband a knowing look before tagging on another question. "How many innocent people have you killed?"

"Why should we allow you to live?" Andrew eyed the shotgun in the corner. "Human or not, you were killed ten years ago. You shouldn't be alive now. It isn't natural."

"Stop it!" Silver shouted. Her father glared at her. Her mother didn't even glance in her direction. That didn't keep Silver from demanding their complete attention. She rested hands on the back of Jack's chair and said, "You aren't even giving him a chance to speak."

Andrew waved her protest away as if it was an annoying fly. "This isn't just some boy you've brought home for dinner. He was a vampire. Do you have any idea what that means? He's lived a dark existence you can't even imagine. His survival instincts have been pruned and cultivated. He's killed-"

"No, he hasn't." Silver shook her finger in the air, making her point. "He hasn't killed a solitary person."

"Is that what he told you?" Her mother flicked a look of pure loathing at him before turning to her daughter. "All the vampires I have met over the years have been liars and con-artists and murderers."

Without thinking Jack said, "The hunters I've met have been greedy and dishonest and would kill their own mothers if the price was right."

Andrew slammed a fist against the table, making everyone jump. He pinned Jack with a hard stare. If he didn't love his daughter so much, Jack had no doubt the man would kill him on the spot. Instead, he gave Jack a warning. "You will watch your mouth while you are in my house."

Andrew and Vanessa exchanged a look. As if they had spoken by telepathy they rose from the table at the same time and dragged their daughter into the kitchen to have a private 'chat' with her. Since they were shouting, Jack heard every word.

"I can't believe you brought a vampire into our home," her father yelled. "We have put up with a lot from you, little girl, because you have such a heavy burden to carry, but this tears it!"

Jack didn't like the way her father was talking to her. Furious, he forced himself into the living room. The further he got from that man the better. Silver wouldn't appreciate it if he attacked her father, no matter how angry she was at the moment.

The loud voices still reached his ears.

"He isn't a vampire anymore," Silver insisted.